Worldline transforms passengers' bank cards into transport tickets

Deployed in France by Worldline for the first time in 2018 for the Dijon conurbation, Open Payment is changing public transport travel habits. This method, which allows the use of bank cards as a ticket, is adapted to the new trends linked to the use of ‘contactless’ payments, with an increase in its use of more than 50% in France in 2021, according to the press release.

The ‘TCL Bankcard’ service is based on the Worldline Open Payment WL Tap 2 Use solution and its Yoval validators. Passengers assign a contactless bank card, either physically or through a smartphone or connected wearable device, to one of the validators to immediately validate their journey without having to register or install a mobile application.

The system consolidates the various journeys made throughout the day to calculate affordable fares, made up of either single tickets or a capped daily maximum amount beyond three journeys. Finally, a direct debit transaction is carried out on the bank account linked to the card used. In the event of a ticket being checked, the user presents his or her bank card.

A user portal allows travellers to obtain a receipt for expense claims, if needed, and multi-validation will soon allow several users to travel with a single bank card in order to simplify family and group travel.

For this project, Worldline and the Caisse d'Epargne Rhône-Alpes (CERA) worked together, combining their skills in payment acceptance and acquisition, to offer a complete solution incorporating validation and control equipment, a central system, and a secure payment chain certified by the CB, Visa, and Mastercard schemes.