Spanish public transport provider EMT Valencia has launched its new mobile ticketing app EMTicket, making it the first city in Spain to begin phasing out cash payments for transit, a change accelerated by the need for contactless solutions in the Covid-19 world.
Fare payments-as-a-service company Masabi, has provided the new app in conjunction with partners Mastercard and BBVA. It offers an upgrade to current ticketing options by making it touch-free and safe for passengers to purchase and display tickets directly on their smartphones.
The multilingual EMTicket app removes the need for passengers to carry cash or to physically interact with ticketing infrastructure. Once purchased in app, passengers simply activate tickets on their mobile device and show them on screen to the driver when boarding EMT Valencia’s services.
EMT Valencia will also benefit from the constantly expanding features and functionality of Masabi’s Justride, used by more than 80 public transit agencies and operators across 11 countries. Justride also provides all users of the platform an upgrade path to a complete and fully functional account-based ticketing (ABT) system, enabling mobility-as-a-service (MaaS).
“This new app will not only help to modernize our services, but also offer EMT Valencia’s passengers a convenient and immediate way to purchase tickets,” says Josep Enric García Alemany, MD of EMT Valencia. “We are excited to be deploying Masabi’s market-leading mobile ticketing platform to allow our passengers to manage their entire transit experience from a single app anytime, anywhere, and to be the first city in Spain to introduce an entirely cash-free onboarding service.”
“In light of Covid-19, provision of contactless and cashless payment options has become essential to maintaining confidence in businesses,” said Brian Zanghi, CEO of Masabi. “For public transit, this means it is not enough just to make services accessible and convenient, every aspect of the journey has to be Covid-safe – and this includes ticketing and payment. We are excited to partner with EMT Valencia, BBVA and Mastercard to power the EMTicket app, helping to build a safe and seamless public transport ecosystem across Valencia.”
