This partnership will improve public transport safety and accessibility and see Valencia become first city in Spain to end on-board cash payments.
Masabi, the company bringing Fare Payments-as-a-Service to public transport, today announced that it has launched the EMTicket mobile ticketing app for EMT Valencia, working in conjunction with partners Mastercard and BBVA. The new app 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. EMTicket is now available for download from Google Play and the App Store.
The introduction of EMTicket will see Valencia become the first city in Spain to phase out cash payments in favour of contactless payment options, providing passengers with a Covid-safe way to pay and ride public transport and help speed up journey times. 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, the leading Fare-Payments-as-a-Service platform 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). As part of this deployment Justride will be using Mastercard Payment Gateway Services to enable safe and secure digital payments with acquiring bank services supplied by BBVA.
“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,” said Josep Enric García Alemany, Managing Director 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.”
“As one of Spain’s leading providers of payment solutions including mobile ticketing, BBVA is a natural choice to partner with Mastercard and Masabi and together make the transit experience easier and safer for all Valencians. We are committed to providing uncomplicated solutions which can improve people’s day-to-day lives, and EMTicket is a great example of this” said Carlos Rodríguez, Regional Director of BBVA.
“This initiative is clear example of Mastercard’s commitment to make cities more efficient and more sustainable - but most importantly - safe and convenient for the people who live in and visit them. We’re working with partners like Masabi across the urban mobility ecosystem to help cities deliver simple and convenient no-touch transit experiences using the payment method that riders already carry with them,” said Paloma Real, General Manager, of Mastercard Spain. “We are delighted to form part of this initiative that puts Mastercard technology at the heart of city infrastructure to improve daily experiences for the residents and visitors of the city of Valencia.”
“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.”
If you would like to learn more about how Masabi can help your organisation with contactless ticketing solutions please request a demo.