CHAPTER 15
Credit card company promotes seamless
ticketing in cash-dominated market
MasterCard is building a network of partnerships to
realise the potential of contactless and mobile pay-
ments to make urban transit systems work more effi-
ciently, as it looks to the trend for ‘smart cities’ as a
means of expanding the market for its cards.
In tests from Philadelphia to Gujarat, MasterCard
has begun to integrate payment systems for train,
metro, bus and road toll systems.
‘85 per cent of the world’s payments are still in
cash. To me that’s our largest opportunity,’ Ajay
Banga, MasterCard’s chief executive, told the Finan-
cial Times.
Mastercard analysis found that transit systems –
along with coffee and newspapers – were one of the
largest markets in which cash dominates payment
cards. ‘It’s $200bn a year in different cities around
the world, which has the opportunity to be trans-
formative for our business,’ he said.
The company announced a partnership in March
with Cubic Transportation Systems, which uses traf-
fic data to advise network operators from London
to Chicago whether they need to change routes or
pricing to cope with rush hour demand, and to alert
commuters through their smartphones of the best
options.
Other new partners include Masabi, which allows
users to buy tickets through their mobile devices, and
Parkeon, a parking company with which MasterCard
this week announced a plan to turn parking meters
into kiosks that offer coupons for local businesses.
Mr Banga said MasterCard’s aim in cities such
as Philadelphia, where a pilot programme is due to
expand into a full consumer launch later this year,
was to cut the time train passengers spend buying a
MasterCard cashes in on smart transit
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