The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority becomes the 14th agency to join contactless, regional mobile ticketing solution, making riding public transit across agencies and states safer and more convenient
Ann Arbor, MI & New York, NY October 6 2020 The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority (TheRide), Neoride and Masabi, today announced that TheRide has launched EZfare, a contactless and Covid-safe mobile ticketing solution that will make riding public transit in Ann Arbour safer and more convenient than ever before. Mobile ticketing is an important component in helping make transit as safe as possible by removing the need to physically exchange currency, tickets or passes.
TheRide has joined 13 other transit agencies across Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky that already sell their fares on the EZfare regional fare payment system, which is powered by Fare Payments-as-a-Service provider, Masabi. All are members of NEORide, a council of governments comprising 16 transit systems dedicated to the development and promotion of regional public transportation services. With the addition of The Ride, EZfare becomes a tri-state mobile ticketing platform, and is now the largest of its kind in the United States.
Available as a free download from both the App Store and Google Play, the EZfare app enables customers to purchase fares anytime, anywhere and travel to their destination with just a few taps of their smartphone. In addition to the EZfare app, tickets across the network of agencies are also available for purchase through some of the world’s leading Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) and mobility apps such as Transit, Uber and Moovit. Ticketing across the 3 states, 14 agencies and multiple apps has been enabled using Masabi’s Justride SDK, the world's first mobile ticketing software development kit (SDK) for public transportation, to create a seamless passenger experience combining public transit and shared mobility services.
“While the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our agency, we are pleased to be able to introduce a contactless method of payment for riders,” said John Metzinger, Deputy CEO, Finance and Administration at TheRide. “This pilot project will help reduce the risk of virus transmission while using our system, while also allowing TheRide to test community reactions and the potential for a permanent mobile ticket option in the future.”
“We’re excited to be expanding EZfare to a tri-state region with the addition of TheRide,” shared NEORide president and Laketran CEO Ben Capelle. “One of the goals of NEORide is to make public transportation more efficient and easier to use through coordination. By adding more transit systems to the EZfare platform, we are making this payment technology more affordable and accessible to both the agencies and transit users.”
“Masabi’s cutting edge Fare-Payments-as-a-Service approach to mobile ticketing is the bedrock upon which EZfare has been built, providing a quick, safe and cost-efficient route to modernisation and inter-agency co-operation that has been easily implemented,” said Brian Zanghi, CEO of Masabi. “We have been excited with the response of riders across NEORide agencies so far, and are thrilled to see this pioneering concept expand to include new cities such as Ann Arbor, allowing travellers in Ohio, Kentucky and now Michigan to realise the benefits of cashless technology via a single solution.”
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