Masabi, Keolis and FAMOCO Unveil Mass Market Mobile Ticket Validator

Masabi, Keolis, through its digital subsidiary Kisio Digital and FAMOCO have unveiled a mass market mobile ticket validator which dramatically changes the economics of deployment. Whereas 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.

The device developed by the three companies combines highly specialized expertise from the global leaders in their respective fields. FAMOCO has provided the secure Android-based device, Kisio Digital the front-end customer application and Masabi is delivering the software which powers the device — based on its deployment proven Justride Inspect system. The validator is being shown by Kisio at the ITS World Congress event in Montreal Canada.

“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.”

Laurent Kocher, executive director of marketing, innovation and services at Keolis declared: “Our partnership with Famoco & Masabi is an important milestone in our PlanBookTicket digital strategy, supported by our subsidiary Kisio Digital. 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. Thanks to Famoco and Masabi, members of our start-up partner ecosystem, we offer innovative, robust and very competitive solutions to our customers, enabling them to deploy mobile ticketing across the whole transportation network.”