Global Mass Transit Research organised its third annual conference on “Tansit Ticketing & Fare Collection APAC 2018” on October 24-25, 2018, in Singapore. Transit authorities, operators, technology providers, ticketing associations and consultants attended the conference. The conference was supported by six sponsors – FIME, INIT, M

asabi, NFC Forum, SC Soft and Visa, and had a diverse group of speakers from transit agencies, operators, service providers, technology providers and vendors. The key takeaways from the conference are discussed below.

Silvester Prakasam, Senior Advisor, Fare System Division, Land Transport Authority (LTA), Singapore spoke about the implementation of account-based ticketing (ABT) in transit. In the last few years, ABT is being deployed in various transit systems, such as Transport for London (UK), Chicago Transit Authority (US), Singapore LTA, Kochi Metrorail (India), South East Pennsylvania Transport Authority (USA), Utah Transit Authority (USA), Bay Area Rapid Transport (USA) and Budapesti Kozlekedesi Kozpont (Prague).

Transit authorities are now moving away from stored value cards to open payment systems because public transport systems are highly subsidised and the issue and top-up cost of such cards has increased significantly from 7 per cent to 9 per cent in the last few years.

Factors that acted as catalysts for open payments in transit systems in 2014 were high performance microprocessors at touchpoints that enabled more complex cryptography such as Europay, MasterCard, Visa (EMV), and more powerful and cost-effective back office. The advantages of open loop ticketing include the elimination of queues to recharge or buy passes, a better spread of a commuter’s monthly expenditure and freedom from having to grapple with multiple ticketing products (fare charges can be calculated to give the optimal peak and off-peak fare).

However, EMV poses a difficult business case because it faces several risks such as payment decline (on a future date when transit payment is due), incomplete transactions, card clash, etc. Further, EMV cards are slower and have a wider variation in performance. It further faces challenges during implementation as detailed below.

The approval office that reviews the test result may not be aware of what model is adopted in transit and what test cases are applicable or not applicable to the card readers.

  • Transit usage may not be compatible with EMV requirements.
  • Updates on scheme specification may be for retail.
  • Multiple schemes in single transit reader may pose space/memory challenges. Further, changes in one scheme may potentially affect another.

 Common mobility card in Bangkok, Thailand

Padet Praditphet, Director, Common Ticketing Office, Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTP), Ministry of Transport, Thailand spoke about the ticketing system in Thailand. He stated that the objective of having a common ticketing system is threefold. For passengers, it offers convenience and incentives; for the government, it promotes the usage of public transport by increasing public convenience and implementing national automated fare collection (AFC) standards; and for service providers, it reduces operations costs, prevents frauds and induces traffic.

The cards currently used in Thailand, MangMoom 2.0 and MangMoom 2.5, are closed loop cards. The proposed MangMoom 4.0 will be an open loop card and will be accepted in all transportation modes, including metro trains, commuter trains, river buses, and airport rail link.

Deployment of bank cards for transit ticketing

Pungky Purnomo Wibowo, Department Head of Electronification and National Payment Gateway, Bank of Indonesia, spoke about the transportation fare payment in Indonesia.

The transportation sector’s contribution accounts for around 3.95 per cent of the country’s GDP. Most fare payments are currently made using cash. Since cash transactions are less practical, less transparent and relatively inefficient, there is a huge opportunity for the adoption of electronic ticketing in Indonesia.

Compared to its peer countries, Indonesia still lacks an integrated public transport network and hence does not have fare integration. Transportation in Jakarta is predominantly managed by state and regional owned government enterprises. AFC will initially be implemented in Jakarta.

The current challenges in the implementation of AFC are the following:

  • Selection of compatible systems and standards, operating systems, security approaches, etc.
  • No single gateway system that combines information from all transportation modes.
  • Transport systems are owned by multiple authorities – regional government-owned enterprises, state-owned enterprises and private enterprises
  • Cash still dominates the fare payment segment.
  • No multimodal transportation centre that integrates all transport systems.

Dina Seikh Salleh, General Manager, Transit Urban Mobility Department, Touch N Go, Malaysia spoke about the AFC system deployed in the transit sector. Touch N Go is used to pay at expressways, parking, retail, transit, etc. Using only prepaid card as the payment mode initially, it has enabled payments through various media currently, including wearables, app-based mobile ticketing, QR-code-based mobile ticketing and now ABT. In June 2017, the company signed a contract with Alipay to enable fare payment through an e-wallet.

Mobile ticketing is an emerging trend in the country. Despite significantly lower transaction value, both mobile ticketing and e-wallets account for large transaction volume.

The Malaysian Fintech Report 2018 indicates that mobile payments, whether through mobile ticketing or e-wallets, is the preferred channel to pay. In the future, the country plans to migrate from cashless and cash-based ticketing (currentl ratio 80:20) to ABT and card-based ticketing (in 80:20 ratio).

However, the deployment faces challenges in project financing, stakeholder interest alignment, government approval and policy, technology adoption finalisation, stakeholder commitment and competencies, and time to market.

Deployment of bank cards in Malaysia

Noormah Mohd Noor, Chief Executive Officer, Express Rail Link (KLIA Ekspres), Malaysia spoke about the country’s plans to deploy e-ticketing by 2020. KLIA Ekspres currently operates KLIA Ekspres HSR and KLIA transit commuter rail systems, which are integrated with Kuala Lumpur Rail Transit (KL Rail).

Malaysia is one of the first adopters of cloud solutions for transit.

To promote contactless ticketing, the system offers discounts for online ticket purchases and ticket purchases using e-wallets. Passes offering unlimited rides on LRT, MRT and KL Monorail lines and tickets combined with non-transit services (cab rides, retail, etc.) have also been launched.

In the future, KLIA Ekspres aims to ensure first- and last-mile connectivity among different transit systems (including cabs), and enhance the ticketing system and distribution channels.

Kelvin Lim, Deputy Chief Specialist (Fare System), Land Transport Authority, Singapore, spoke about the deployment of hands-free ticketing in the country. Singapore’s public transport system currently deploys the tap-in/tap-out system. With the deployment of a hands-free ticketing system, a passenger in possession of a fare media can enter and exit the system seamlessly, without having to tap the media at the fare gate.

Technologies that support hands-free ticketing are RFID (long range), Bluetooth, facial recognition, brain wave pattern, thermograms, etc.

Singapore’s LTA has collaborated with industry players to test the technology. It conducted a controlled ticketing trial. It now plans to issue RFID card or install hands-free Bluetooth mobile application. The trial duration is six months.

Conclusion

The conference provided a platform to discuss current trends in transit ticketing and upcoming deployments in the Asian region, particularly in Southeast Asia. Transport authorities and operators constantly make efforts to ease the way people travel using the public transport system by integrating transportation modes and ticketing. This helps authorities save cost, time and effort, and makes public transport systems attractive to commuters.

Advancements in transit ticketing will offer numerous opportunities for technology developers, providers and vendors, providing a wider market for the deployment of new and advanced technologies in the region.