The SNCF wants to soon offer payment in installments to its customers. A call for tenders was launched last spring, for the implementation of split payment by summer 2023 at the latest, according to officials of the railway company. The payment solution, only online, would be offered from a certain amount.
Within a year at the latest, you will be able to pay your train tickets in installments. SNCF is currently working on setting up a split payment solution for its customers, according to information revealed by The Parisian. A call for tenders was launched last spring with financial players in the sector.
We are working on all the good ideas that make it easier for everyone to travel by train. […] From the 20th of each month, the first reason for refusal of payment is ‘insufficient funds’, explains Christophe Fanichet, boss of SNCF Voyageurs. Payment in instalments would, for example, allow these customers to still be able to buy their tickets.
A possible solution for large payments
According to the manager, the split payment solution will be ready by mid-2023 maximum. The new payment method will be offered digital only and not on the terminals in the station. It will be offered from a certain amount and should therefore not concern daily trains but rather TGV, Ouigo and Intercits journeys.
I don’t think, for example, that a 50 ticket can be paid for in four instalments, explains an actor familiar with the matter. This will be proposed for the largest order amounts, for example during a reservation for a family or a group. The SNCF will choose a specialist company in September, before negotiating the details and then starting a test phase.
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The implementation will then be gradual, to avoid bugs and the bad buzz that could go with the SNCF does not want to reproduce the experience lived with the launch of the SNCF Connect application. According to Le Parisien, two or three financial companies specializing in split payment are in the running for this call for tenders.