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The city of Besançon in Eastern France has launched contactless open-loop fare payments supporting Visa- and Mastercard-branded credit and debit cards, as well as cards supporting France’s Cartes Bancaires domestic debit scheme. France, however, has generally lagged behind other major European countries in rolling out contactless open-loop fare payments.
The open-loop payments service supports cards and credentials from Cartes Bancaires, France’s local debit scheme, which is the most widely used payments method in the country with more than 70 million CB cards on issue
The city of Besançon in Eastern France has launched contactless open-loop fare payments supporting Visa- and Mastercard-branded credit and debit cards, as well as cards supporting France’s Cartes Bancaires domestic debit scheme.
The service also enables customers to pay with open-loop card credentials stored in NFC mobile wallets connected with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay.
France is well behind such neighbors as Italy, the UK and Belgium in rolling out open loop to major cities, though the top 5 French cities of Lyon and Toulouse are now preparing for launches. A number of smaller cities have already introduced the technology. Paris, France’s capital and largest city is holding back on open loop, however. French transit agencies instead are known for issuing contactless closed-loop cards storing tickets and period passes, along with issuing paper tickets.
The open-loop service in Besançon has launched on 200 buses and trams operated by France-based Keolis. UK- and Australia-based Littlepay is serving as the payments service provider, while Canada-based Kuba, a sister company to Littlepay in the ICM Mobility Group, is providing validators.
Kuba also developed an inspection app that will run on NFC-enabled Android phones for use by staffers to check that passengers have paid their fares, according to Littlepay in an announcement. The vendor added that La Banque Postale is serving as acquirer for the project.
Littlepay also said that the city plans to expand the open-loop service to its suburban lines in September.
Littlepay noted that its certification to handle Cartes Bancaires, or CB, transactions “will be instrumental to further projects in the region later this year.” CB, France’s local card scheme, is its most widely used payments method, said Littlepay. There are more than 70 million CB cards on issue and the scheme offers lower processing costs to merchants, added the vendor.
The city of Besançon said users of the open-loop service, which it calls “Bank Card PASS,” will get a €0.20 discount off the standard €1.40 (US$1.60) price they would pay if they had bought a ticket. Tickets, which can be stored on the agency’s Voyages closed-loop card, are good for one hour of travel on the city’s transport network.
Although the city’s open-loop service doesn’t support fare capping, it has the distinction of enabling customers to tap to pay with the same card or NFC wallet credential for up to nine family members or other traveling companions. That is a rare feature for open-loop fare payments services.
While France is lagging behind, Europe as a whole is far ahead of other regions in supporting open loop on its transit systems. Such major cities as London, Milan, Rome, Moscow, Brussels, Madrid, Helsinki, Stockholm and Prague enable customers to pay with contactless credit and debit cards and open-loop cards loaded into NFC wallets. A number of smaller cities on the continent support the technology, as well.
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