Future of public transport – Will the dream of ticketless travel soon become a reality? -News

Just get on like with GA without checking in, but bill like with EasyRide – is that technically possible today?

If you have a GA card, you don’t have to worry about anything before a trip. But this comfort comes at a hefty price of around 4,000 francs and is not worth it for everyone.

With EasyRide, on the other hand, you only pay for the route you travel, but you have to register with a swipe before each trip. If you forget to check in, you risk a fine. It would be practical if the app took over the login process. This concept is called “Be-In-Be-out” and has a long history.

An old dream

More than 25 years ago, long before smartphones and mobile internet access, the SBB started its first attempts in 1998 under the name “EasyRide” to implement Be-In-Be-Out.

The passengers traveled with a chip card; sensors in the vehicles were able to read the ID cards from a distance, so that there was no need to log in or out. The system was able to track the route traveled based on the data from the maps. After the test phase it was clear that it would work, but because of the high costs of 600 million francs, it was not introduced in 2001.

Today we have come very close to the system from the 90s. EasyRide or the Fairtiq app records the route taken and calculates it in the background. You just have to check in and out yourself. Will getting in and out worry-free remain a dream forever?

A question of time

“No,” says Gian-Mattia Schucan, founder and co-CEO at Fairtiq. In addition to its own Fairtiq app, the company also develops and operates the technology behind EasyRide. The Fairtiq system can already distinguish whether someone is on public transport or on foot, and automatic check-out already works, says Gian-Mattia Schucan.

This is made possible by a combination of GPS tracking, motion sensors and algorithms, some of which work with artificial intelligence processes. In the future, Bluetooth transmitters will be added, which are already installed in all public transport vehicles.

The so-called beacons permanently send out a signal for identification. In the future, an app will always know which means of transport you are currently using – if you wish. Anyone who prefers to buy a ticket or actively register and deregister will still be able to do so in the future.

Nightmare surveillance

But what about older people who don’t have a smartphone, for example – are they increasingly excluded from public transport? “The opposite is true,” Gian-Mattia Schucan is convinced: “It is the smartphone that gives older people access to public transport because they don’t have to buy a ticket from a machine.”

Regardless of age, there are passengers who have reservations because they fear surveillance or prefer to pay with cash. Sayanthan Jeyakumar, head of SBB Mobile, reassures: “There will always be solutions for people without smartphones who prefer to pay with cash.”

The public transport industry is currently thinking about new sales channels and alternatives to the old, expensive machines. Prepaid cards that can be loaded with cash and used to pay for a ticket on a computer or at a kiosk would be conceivable.

EasyRide and alternatives to the machines are coming – when is not officially known.

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