Pittsburgh, Flowbird Team to Add Ticket Vending Machines

The Pittsburgh Regional Transit (PRT) is partnering with Flowbird North America Inc. to install more than 80 state-of-the-art Astreo Ticket Vending Machines (TVMs) at transit stations around the region.

Flowbird’s Astreo TVMs are designed to streamline the fare payment process, featuring an intuitive LED color touch-screen display, high-capacity ticket vending, and account reload capabilities suitable for busy transit environments.

Benefits of the New Terminals

The terminals offer multilingual functionality and audio assistance, ensuring accessibility for all users, including meeting ADA standards.

Additionally, the machines support various payment options, including contactless payments, mobile wallets, and cash acceptance.

"Pittsburgh Regional Transit is excited to partner with Flowbird to deploy these best-in-class ticket vending machines for our next-generation fare collection system," said Pittsburgh Regional Transit CEO Katharine Kelleman. "Flowbird’s technology aligns with our commitment to enhance the public transportation experience, and we believe this initiative will greatly benefit our riders by providing a more user-friendly, efficient, and equitable fare payment solution."

PRT Expanding Payment Options, Functionality

The integration of Flowbird’s TVMs with PRT’s existing account-based ticketing system is a key feature of this project, and one that allowed PRT to select the best TVM on the market, regardless of who their existing back-office provider is.

Flowbird’s TVMs will connect to PRT’s back-office platform, allowing real-time updates to user accounts.

The integration ensures that riders can quickly add funds to their accounts by simply inserting cash or using their bank cards at Flowbird’s TVMs, enhancing the convenience, efficiency, and equity of the fare payment process.

The new Astreo TVMs are scheduled to be operational in 2025.