An open-loop public transit payment system in Tuscany, Italy, has received hundreds of thousands of users in its first month of operation.
Account-based ticketing system TipTap, provided by Kuba, was activated at the end of March across Tuscany’s bus network and the city of Florence’s tramway - areas which are highly popular with international tourists.
Transport operator Autolinee Toscane (AT) says that 400,000 passengers have used it, with about 650,000 ‘taps’ with bank cards and mobile wallets received by fare validators on vehicles.
Of these, 60% are occasional passengers, with less than two taps in this period, and about 50% of cards used on the system were issued abroad.
Kuba, formerly known as Vix Italia, says this is the largest open-loop deployment on a European transit network, with a roll-out across 273 cities and towns, including 13 major cities.
More than 6,000 cEMV-enabled Kuba validators have been installed on over 3,000 urban, suburban, and intercity buses and 40 trams.
Passengers tap their bank card or smart device on a validator as they board - tapping it again as they exit on some lines. Fares are calculated in Kuba’s back office, with contactless EMV fare payments processed by Littlepay.
Tommaso Rosa, head of marketing, brand & communication at AT, says: "Contactless payment using a card or smartphone is proving popular, in particular with people who don’t ride our buses regularly and those visiting Tuscany from overseas. They don’t have to understand the ticketing system to hop on a bus and travel around cities, or from one city to another."
The system is an extension of the account-based ticketing system deployed by Kuba in 2021 when AT took over the running of Tuscany’s bus network. Previously managed by 23 bus companies, the transition involved replacing eight ticketing systems with a single platform.
AT launched a marketing campaign with Visa to promote the new system, and Visa offered free rides to passengers using the contactless system between 10 April and 5 May.
