Never has the expression "taking the train of modernity" made so much sense as it does now for Porto's public transport users. This is effectively what has just happened with the pilot project by TIP (Transportes Intermodais do Porto), REDUNIQ, Visa, Card4B, Cybersource and Littlepay, which aims to provide urban transport in Invicta with contactless payments seeing the light of day.
So, as of July 2021, users of Metro do Porto's Violet Line (E), which serves Sá Carneiro Airport, and STCP's Line 500 can pay for their journey without having to top up their Andante, simply by bringing their contactless card, smartphone or smartwatch close to the validator.
"Users will be able to pay for their journey by simply tapping their debit card, credit card, pre-paid card or contactless payment device on the validators with the symbol. This means there's no need to carry cash, wait in queues to buy transport tickets or waste time finding out where to buy them."
explained Visa at the inauguration of the first terminals equipped with contactless technology in Porto.
To buy a transport ticket all you have to do is hold your contactless debit, credit or prepaid card up to the validator, at which point a ticket is registered on that card and the information is available for the inspector to check, should this happen, that a ticket has been purchased with that card.
Specifically, this pilot project covers the stations Aeroporto, Senhora da Hora, Casa da Música, Trindade on the Violet Line, Campanhã, Bolhão, Campo 24 de Agosto, São Bento, Aliados (these on the Yellow Line or common to Metro lines A, B, C and F) and the buses on line 500 of the Sociedade de Transportes Colectivos do Porto (STCP) Praça da Liberdade / Matosinhos (Mercado).
If the experiment is successful, pay with contactless could become a reality from the north to the south of the country, taking advantage of the fact that Portugal is a tourist country and where the issue of mobility is very topical.
There's no escaping it, paying with contactless is the order of the day. Just look at the data from the last REDUNIQ Insights report which indicate that 42% of the turnover of Portuguese businesses already comes from this means of payment, which makes its integration into transport systems natural.
In fact, during the launch of this pilot project, the Visa representative emphasised the importance of introducing the contactless technology has as an incentive to use public transport.
Contactless encourages the use of public transport
The stimulus we talked about in the previous paragraph is clearly visible in a study by Visa and C Space which showed that 44% of public transport users believe that they would use these means of transport more often if the means of transport were more efficient. contactless payment was available, of which 60% said they hoped this technology would be available in the future.
As is already the case in London. Turin or Bonn, Porto's intermodal transport users don't have to wait, as a simpler, faster, safer and more convenient way to pay for travelling within the city has just been made available to them.
In addition, the opportunity to use contactless payments in public transport also contributes to creating a more efficient and environmentally sustainable region.
REDUNIQ at the service of urban mobility
As we have seen, REDUNIQ is one of the partners in this project, which is no coincidence. Its almost four decades of dedication to developing innovative solutions in the field of payment systems have not only been decisive in this whole project, but are also giving the company the chance to become a partner. urban mobility contactless tools that make payments more efficient and secure.
Proof of this is the recent launch of the innovative REDUNIQ Smart Android payment terminal with integrated contactless technology.
As well as accepting payments by contactless card, chip and MB WAY, the REDUNIQ Smart Contactless PIN incorporates a set of management apps that help businesses and allow them to be totally mobile and digital, such as the certified app omeutaxi, which provides taxi drivers and their customers with a simpler, safer and faster method of making transactions.
Created with taxi drivers in mind and the necessary adaptation of their services to the entry into force of compulsory electronic invoicing, omeutáxi app is an application certified by the Tax Authority which, among other things, allows invoices to be issued even without Internet access, the management of the entire fleet from the same terminal, the possibility of adjusting the VAT rate to be used (and the amounts of supplements) and the synchronisation of company, customer, product and invoice document data (this data is sent to the iGest portal).
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