Transport payment infrastructure provider Littlepay has announced the public launch of contactless EMV (cEMV) ticketing on the Palm Bus network in Cannes, France.
From today [11 April], riders across the network of over 200 buses will be able to pay for trips with a contactless bank card (Visa, Mastercard) or using their smartphone (Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay).
The collaboration, between Palm Bus, Kuba, Littlepay and La Banque Postale, said this fuss-free transit payment experience, which doesn’t require knowledge of local ticketing systems, is a vital improvement for both residents and tourists that visit the city during its annual film festival and peak Summer season.
Littlepay has integrated Kuba’s Vix CP6500 validator and AFC back office to its payments platform, so that cEMV can be added to a range of ticketing options Kuba already provides for Palm Bus, including mobile QR codes and closed-loop smart cards.
Frederic Marandon, DGA mobility of Cannes pays de Lérins Agglomération, an urban community centre in Cannes, said: “The deployment of the open payment solution in our region is the result of a long-standing collaboration between our agglomération, our transport company Palm Bus and our technology partner Kuba. The addition of this service, with the support of Littlepay, responds to our mission to simplify access to public transport for our regular and occasional customers.”
Additionally, Kuba has used Littlepay’s Inspect API to develop a fare inspection app that will be used to deter fare evasion. This is installed on NFC compatible Android mobile devices, which Palm Bus’ fare inspection staff can use to check passengers’ cards against a list of known taps.
The app is designed to remove the need for expensive, PCI-compliant fare inspection hardware to establish whether passengers are travelling with a valid cEMV ‘token’ for travel.
Littlepay provides a modular payments infrastructure that allows integrations with a range of ticketing systems and acquiring banks. The company said this partnership with Kuba is an excellent example of how APIs can be used to integrate with any compatible payment reader and back office, providing cEMV processing within a wider ticketing ecosystem.
Amin Shayan, CEO of Littlepay, added: “It’s been fantastic to develop a contactless system in partnership with Kuba and Palm Bus that co-exists seamlessly with other payment options. This location is also a great place to see how creating a universal payment experience with tap-to-pay can help cities make travel simpler for overseas visitors. Increasingly, transit users understand they can use their bank card as their ticket to ride, wherever they are.”
