Skip to main content

Thales wins Taipei metro ticketing deal

Firm will work with MiTac Information Technology Corporation in Taiwan’s capital region
By David Arminas November 23, 2023 Read time: 2 mins
Upgraded system will incorporate EMV fare media, including Visa, MasterCard and American Express (© Tupungato | Dreamstime.com)

Thales Ground Transportation Systems has been selected by Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation in Taiwan to upgrade the operator’s ticketing system for multiple electronic payment.

Thales and its partner MiTac Information Technology Corporation will design and implement an upgraded automatic fare collection system and retrofit the existing equipment. There are around two million daily passenger transactions.

Taipei Mass Rapid Transit, also known as Metro Taipei, is operated by Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation, which is owned by the government of Taiwan. It is the first metro system in Taiwan and serves the cities of Taipei and New Taipei.

New Taipei is a special municipality and home to an estimated four million people. Taipei - the capital of Taiwan - is an enclave of New Taipei. 

The contract is part of Taipei’s policy to provide various options for making contactless payments. This is in addition to the existing stored value card payment solution and will enable multiple electronic payment options across 120 stations.

The upgraded system will incorporate EMV fare media, including Visa, MasterCard, American Express and JCB, as well as QR code payment options such as TRTC SJQR and 3rd party QR codes (LinePay Money Transit QR, EasyCard Transit QR and iCash Transit QR).

Currently, the payment options are only a contactless token/ticket purchased at vending machine or ticket office and contactless stored value card (Easycard, iCash and iPass).

“The award of this project has reinforced the position of Thales in the transportation market in Taiwan with the support and trust from our long-term customer and partner,” said Jean-Marc Reynaud, vice president of revenue collection systems at Thales.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Alliance stages North American back office interoperability trial
    December 4, 2013
    JJ Eden, President and CEO of the Alliance for Toll Interoperability, talks to Jason Barnes about the new inter-agency hub, which will facilitate national transactions When it comes to achieving interoperability, the sheer diversity of technologies in operation in the US is perhaps the tolling industry’s greatest defining characteristic and its biggest challenge. The situation is in stark contrast with some other regions of the world, such as Europe where the use of common front-end Dedicated Short-Range
  • The bus to IP access control has left the station
    April 9, 2014
    David Lenot examines how mass transit agencies can benefit from IP access control and the features required to ensure a sound investment. With millions of commuters relying on their services daily, mass transit agencies are faced with the unfortunate reality that their operations are susceptible to threats. A single incidence of unauthorised access to restricted areas and buildings could be the catalyst to damaged property, endangered lives or other unfortunate events. Unlike an international airport
  • Transport for London and Cubic scoop another major ticketing award
    October 9, 2015
    Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) and Transport for London (TfL)’s contactless bankcard system have been awarded the Most Innovative Transport Project prize at the recent National Transport Awards, the seventh major award this year for Cubic and TfL’s contactless system. Launched in 2012, the contactless bankcard system was extended in 2014 to cover London’s entire transit network – including Tube, rail, bus and tram services. Since the introduction of the contactless payment scheme, more than 180 milli
  • Joint venture delivers integrated parking payment
    October 31, 2014
    Mobile payment solutions provider Parkmobile USA is to partner with SP Plus Corporation (SP+) in a joint venture that will combine two parking transaction engines to deliver on-demand and prepaid transaction processing for on- and off-street parking and transportation services. Parkmobile will contribute its on-demand parking transaction engine that allows consumers to transact real-time payment for parking privileges in both on- and off-street environments. SP+ will contribute its proprietary Click and