How IBA Group Brings Contactless Payment to Metropolitan Transit Systems

Author: Andrew Dvirnyk

For anyone who has taken a train or bus ride in a major city, anywhere in the world, you know how complex a system it can be. From multiple routes, to aging equipment, to safety standards, and overcrowding, transit systems face a variety of complexities, but share one need. They need to get commuters where they are going as quickly and as safely as possible.

When we worked on the transit system in Kazakhstan and in other locations, we shared this same goal. As a result, we provided a range of technology and services around contactless payment processing that enabled cost savings and efficiency, while also prioritizing data privacy.

How IBA Group Works with Transit Systems

Just like transit systems have a diverse array of needs, we provide a variety of technologies and services to meet those needs, all in the context of contactless payment processing.

To get the job done, we have functioned as a system vendor, and as the group responsible for the electronic parts used for public transportation payment collection.

Additionally, we develop both hardware and software. In the software space, our teams both develop the software and set up a processing center that provides the infrastructure to accept payments.

Underscoring the development and provision of software and hardware is a series of certifications and requirements that IBA Group maintains, to protect secure transactions on the side of our clients and our client’s customers.

Why Take the Service Approach?

For projects like contactless payment processing for transportation systems, it is important to go beyond the vendor function and provide the solution as a service.

The fact that we utilize our own independent data center to host solutions benefits our clients and the customers they serve. Dedicated platforms mean easier, more timely maintenance, and a continued commitment to data privacy.

Beyond that, our concept of a service approach extends to providing customer support. We have tools in place to receive and respond to customer questions quickly and accurately. Customers talk to us about the range of problems they are facing. Since we are manufacturer of hardware and software, and we focus on service, we get to bring our expertise to them. And we have built in the flexibility to respond not only to their problems. Because of our service approach, we are also responsive to their new ideas and needs as things change.

Transportation Systems Perspective on Contactless Payment Processing

Flexibility and service speak to a specific need on the part of the transportation system customer. What we find again and again, is that transportation systems want to optimize the expense of software and hardware investments for contactless payment processing.

That means transportation systems look for more from the provider experience. It also means they want to optimize the opportunities that come with smart cities. And they identify painless contactless payment processing as key to doing so.

By implementing contactless payments, they reduce expenses associated with the old way of collecting payments. In some cases, the transportation systems are located in cities that do not have advanced systems for contactless payment collection. In cases like these, the transportations seek partnerships as a way to optimize investments.

Return on Investment for Contactless Payment

What transportation systems find is that contactless payment processing has a Return on Investment (ROI) that other payment solutions do not. Cash exchange is expensive and involves multiple employees to collect and monitor. In this scenario, switching to contactless removes burdensome costs and time lags.

Additionally, with contactless payment, there are ways to defray costs. Since many banks are involved, sometimes the banks are willing to finance the payment implementation of the system.

So, while there is that soft side impact of a customer relationship in our approach to contactless payment processing, there are also very real cost savings and improvements on the part of our transportation system clients.

Thinking about how contactless payment processing could meet your organization’s complex needs? Schedule a time to discuss it with us.