The introduction of contactless tickets in the public transportation field enabled operators to make considerable saving while improving customer satisfaction. Cost reductions are achieved when the maintenance costs are reduced; some operators have demonstrated saving millions of Euros right from the first year after switching from magnetic stripe tickets to contactless technology. In addition to cost reduction, the increasing amount of counterfeited magnetic tickets has pushed operators to find a secure solution, which contactless ticket with integrated circuit brings.

Contactless tickets with their extended memory enable operators to set pricing policies which adapt passenger needs better; thanks to contactless tickets’ extended memory, the number of fare combinations is higher. One ticket can combine different contracts so that with a single ticket passenger can take several transportation means operated by different operators instead of using several tickets.  Some cities have even combined transportation features with some services dedicated to tourists such as city sightseeing tours, monument and museum accesses.

Contactless technology enables also more fluent passenger traffic flow. Effective transaction time combined with user-friendliness make each passage at gates, or validations on board, 3 times shorter than when using magnetic tickets.

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