Mass Transit - 37

Getting on the right track: How mass
transit operators can meet passenger
expectations for convenience by
implementing mobile payments
By Toby Holmes
Vice President U.S. Sales, Ground & Sea,
CellPoint Mobile

SEATTLE, WASH. * Seamless payments are both wildly popular

and a fact of life for most Americans and Canadians. Think of
Amazon's "one-click" purchasing, the "tap-and-go" simplicity
of the Starbucks app and, of course, the real-time, mobile-integrated, location-aware payment process that Uber and Lyft
(and their competitors) feature.
Mass transit payments, by contrast, are too often removed
from the process of booking or boarding, rely on outmoded
technology and add unnecessary complexity to riders' journeys.
Mass transit providers may not be competing with Starbucks
and Amazon, but they are certainly competing with rideshare
companies and other digitally-enabled transportation options.
And to compete effectively, they need to add convenience to
their payment processes.
Unfortunately, too few North American transit agencies and
operators leverage the digital and mobile channels to make
payments easier. According to our recent report, Challenges
Facing Municipal, Regional and National Transit Agencies in
the United States, only 30 percent of providers currently collect
fares through a mobile app. In fact, only 39 percent of U.S.
ground transportation providers have an app at all, and only
37 percent can accept alternative payment methods (APMs).
Meeting passenger expectations for convenience

Making payments easier is a "low hanging fruit" opportunity
for mass transit agencies and one that is less resource-intensive (and faster) to implement than traditional IT deployments.

Importantly, this is what their riders say they want. According to
another report of ours, Modernizing the Passenger Experience
in U.S. Ground Transportation, convenient booking/ticketing
process and in-app payments were the two top-ranked features
that U.S. riders look for in transit mobile apps, highlighting
areas where operators must prioritize their investment in new
mobile technology solutions. New and alternative payments
matter, too: The same study found that 34 percent of riders say
using APMs, such as Apple Pay or Google Pay, for fares is "Very"
or "Extremely" important. To enable these payment methods, it
requires a deep understanding of payment control and services
beyond what fare collection vendors are prepared to provide.
Meeting these expectations for convenient payments may
even help mass transit providers get more riders to download
transit mobile apps, which puts providers on closer to equal
footing with rideshare companies and facilitates fare collection
and ridership. Thirty-four percent of riders who say their top
priority is making payments more easy can be incentivized to
download a transit app and one-third of U.S. riders (31 percent)
say reducing the need to carry cash would incentivize them to
download a transit app.

...the same study found that
34 percent of riders say using
APMs... for fares is "Very" or
"Extremely" important.
With convenient, mobile and digital payment solutions,
transit agencies and operators can better meet the needs of
passengers. They can increase ridership by modernizing their
payment processes, but many agencies will need a technology partner to get started, providing access to payment service
providers, acquirers and multiple payment methods and digital
wallets such as Google Pay, Apple Pay, AliPay and more.

TriMet's Hop Fastpass ® continued »

simply tap their phone to a Hop reader.
For Apple users, Express Transit with
Apple Pay allows them to simply tap
and hop onboard without unlocking
the phone.
By adopting Hop, TriMet built
the regional foundation for mobility
as a service (MaaS). MaaS seeks the
seamless integration of various transportation options into one accessible
on-demand resource. Its purpose is to
streamline options for the customer,
optimize routes, reduce congestion

Future of fare collection continued »

and pollution and provide better value
for the customer. The result is convenient, sustainable transportation,
diminished reliance on personal vehicle ownership and reduced traffic
congestion. The idea is that one day,
Hop will be able to integrate with
solutions that allow the rider to pursue
all travel needs - incorporating not
only transit, but transportation network companies, car-sharing services,
e-scooters and future generations of
on-demand mobility.

Additionally, mobile ticketing and payment are more than simply a solution for
fare collection. The true benefit is when a
mobile application fully integrates with
your full fare collection system-a single
point to manage not only mobile but also
cash (the largest amount of transactions),
as well as point-of-sale and electronic payment transactions. Together, the technology functions as a powerful solution that
allows public transit to integrate, grow and
adapt to meet future needs and provide
vital services to communities.

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