Contactless card payments gain popularity in French public transport

The payment method is usable on buses, gantries, and trams in the French city. Nicolas Mallot, deputy CEO of Sytral Mobility, noted, as reported by Le Parisien, the difficulties of installing ‘more than 3,500 terminals, which took two years.’ The installation cost EUR 11 million, but Jean-Charles Kohlhaas, the vice-president in charge of transport in Greater Lyon, underlined that it was only a small portion of their budget.

Mr Mallot notes that the system greatly simplifies payments, with commuters being able to pay ‘even with a smartphone or watch.’ The shift also makes payments more environmentally friendly (by doing away with tickets) and helps reduce fraud.

Contactless on public transport worldwide

The British capital’s public transport operator, Transport for London (TfL), led the way in introducing contactless payments in 2012, with cities from New York to Sydney following suit over the next decade. Other recent examples in Europe include Denmark’s North Jutland region, where the country’s fare system provider is trialling an app-based mobile ticketing system. In Britain this week, it was announced that the transport body for the West Midlands region would be working on a GBP 18 million project (roughly EUR 21 million) introduction of contactless payments. 

From the end of August 2022, volunteers for the Dutch rail company Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS) trialled payments via their cards or using contactless payment methods, as part of the wider scheme, OVpay, which seeks to reform the payments system used by the country’s public transport system. Outside Europe, also at the end of August, the San Francisco Bay Area launched a pilot scheme of contactless transit passes

In a global survey conducted by Visa, 32% of respondents said that contactless payments would be the most likely factor to induce them to use public transport. 91% said that they ‘either strongly or somewhat expect contactless payment options to be available on public transit,’ and 45% said that contactless payment would be their preferred mode of payment for public transport. Regarding the biggest benefit of contactless, the most popular was convenience (cited by 44%), followed by time saved (40%) and ‘reduced contact with surfaces and other people’ (35%).