Masabi, Keolis, and FAMOCO unveiled a new mass market mobile ticket validator. While previous validators have cost well over a thousand dollars per unit, the new device is priced in the hundreds, unlocking a whole new market segment and enabling multi-door boarding, which reduces bus dwell time and increases average bus speed.

The validator delivers fast and reliable scanning of 2D barcode tickets displayed on a smartphone screen, along with smartcard and EMV-based contactless cards, providing the agency with extra security as well as information on vehicle usage and bus location. The device is currently in pilot on the public transport network of Orléans Métropole, in collaboration with Keolis Orléans Val de Loire in France, with general rollout planned for the first half of 2018.

“Mobile ticketing is increasingly being seen as a must-have for transport operators around the globe. In particular in the bus market, the benefits are significant including reduced cash handling and much faster vehicle boarding,” said Brian Zanghi, CEO of Masabi. “However, to date, the cost of validators has been a significant barrier to bus operators deploying this technology. This new validator offers them a solution at a quarter the price of alternative hardware, opening up a whole new market and also making multi-door boarding a reality.”

“The aim is to give each traveler the best route information, with multimodal route options, and the possibility of purchasing and validating tickets in a totally dematerialized way on their mobile,” said Laurent Kocher, executive director of Marketing, Innovation and Services at Keolis.