O-CITY joins Visa Ready for Transit Program to drive contactless payments for mass transit systems globally

O-CITY, BPC’s smart city payment division, has joined Visa’s Ready for Transit Program for mass transit systems.

The Visa Ready for Transit program is designed for companies, like O-CITY, whose technology products and capabilities are helping transit agencies and riders realize the benefits of tapping to ride with a contactless card or digital wallet. Acceptance to the program means that O-CITY is now a certified partner and available to cities globally to accelerate their digital transformation.

With Visa Ready, O-CITY will help overcome traditional public transport challenges

Transit authorities traditionally use their own proprietary systems to accept payments for bus, metro, train or tramway journeys. These systems use closed-loop cards, which are built solely for a specific transport mode and cannot be used to pay for anything else.

Visa Ready is bringing together all players in the ecosystem to drive the adoption of open-loop systems. For transport agencies, the adoption of an open-loop system frees them from the hassle of building and maintaining a complex payment system, allowing them to focus on offering the best traveler experience as travelers can pay with the mobile phone or card they already have, says O-CITY.

“The world is rapidly embracing contactless payments across all public transport; a situation that will only be accelerated by the COVID-19 global pandemic. With contactless payments, everyone wins,” said Tokhir Abdukadyrov, senior vice president of smart city and transport solutions, BPC. “The traveler's experience is significantly improved, and you see a significant increase in the adoption of contactless digital payments to access citywide transit systems. Digital ticketing can increase loyalty and revenues. Acceptance into the Visa Ready program represents a key milestone in O-CITY’s plans to drive digital transformation in collaboration with transport operators worldwide.”

 O-CITY says it is ready to collaborate with transport operators worldwide on POC and innovative projects to further drive and accelerate the adoption of digital and contactless payments.

O-CITY says it is already being used worldwide by over 100 cities of all sizes, from Bogota to Nur-Sultan, Bishkek and Moscow. The expertise and experience gained by O-CITY of operations, technology and go-to market strategies can be transferred to other transport operators going through a similar journey of opening their system up to contactless payments.

O-CITY enables tap-to-pay for travelers using their existing Visa card, a mobile phone or a wearable device such as a smartwatch. The use of contactless payments at public transport gates is growing globally, removing the need for passengers to carry paper tickets, own an additional travel card or queue at a counter to top up a card or purchase a ticket. By using O-CITY, travelers can move with the touch of their mobile, card or wearable, improving the flow of people at entry and exit gate points. Moreover, since contactless payment are pin-free, passengers do not need to halt at a gate, allowing them to enjoy a seamless experience from their departure to their destination.