Paying for rides on trains, subways, buses and other forms of public transportation has been getting more convenient for consumers, particularly those systems that can accept open loop debit, credit or prepaid cards or mobile wallets with contactless capabilities.
Riders can tap or waive their cards or mobile wallets at the turnstile or fare box, a much better experience for riders than say tokens, cash or transit cards. As contactless card issuance has been increasing, more transit authorities have been giving real through to making the necessary upgrades to improve fare collection.
Then the global pandemic shut everything down. Individuals are concerned about their safety on mass transit and many are no longer commuting to an office every day. A blog post on Consultancy.org considers how transit systems are going to need to adapt going forward. Recent reports that COVID-19 or some variant of this virus will be around for the long term will mean that contactless will be preferred way to pay, but ridership may never come back to previous levels. Here’s an excerpt from the blog:
Bus and Rapid Transit should take priority over fixed infrastructure to provide more flexibility and serve the population most in need. Transit is often viewed as serving three key purposes: 1) Provide critical transportation for the economically disadvantaged; 2) Reduce congestion from highways and; 3) Reduce emissions.
The pandemic has organically reduced congestion and emissions, leaving transits needing to focus the majority of its resources on serving the economically disadvantaged. These last nine months have highlighted the societal differences of two economies – one that that can work from home and one that must leave home daily and depends on public transportation for economic survival.
Transportation agencies should prioritize investment in bus improvements, such as bus rapid transit (BRT) and route optimization that are cheaper and faster to operationalize. They also should be looking at how to better integrate Transportation Network Companies (TNCs) into first- and last-mile connections, such as integrating rideshare and/or scooters into a transit ticket, especially to reach the economically disadvantaged and people who cannot work from home.
To their credit, many transit agencies recognized early on in the pandemic where their ridership was traveling, and they made rapid adjustments to ensure that they were routing to where essential workers live and work.
Overview provided by Sarah Grotta, Director, Debit and Alternative Products Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group
