Dive Brief:
- Trip-planning app Transit has added integrated mobile ticketing and payment into its app through a partnership with Software-as-a-Service company Masabi. The ticketing service will launch with the St. Catharines Transit Commission in Ontario.
- The new feature allows Transit users to request fare types, make payments and display virtual tickets. The launch makes Transit the only app to integrate tip planning and payment across public transportation, bike-share, car-share and ride-hailing services.
- Transit and Masabi are making the Justride SDK platform available as a standalone service or alongside existing ticketing apps. Participating agencies will also get access to data like real-time sales, usage and validation information.
Dive Insight:
Transit has long been positioning itself as a mobility-as-a-service solution for cities, offering trip planning that includes transit schedules, bike and scooter share information and access to ride-hailing options. It’s already partnered with or become the official app for transit services in St. Louis, Boston, Baltimore and Montreal, among others.
The integration of payment information is another benefit to transit agencies, who can use the ease of an all-in-one app to appeal to riders looking to build multi-modal trips. Masabi has also partnered with Denver’s RTD and Uber to offer mobile ticketing through the Uber app, beginning soon.
“Planning and paying for trips across modes, with public transit as the foundation, is the holy grail for cities,” Jake Sion, Transit’s chief operating officer, said in a statement. “It’s only natural for riders to purchase tickets with the same app they use to plan trips and track their ride.”
A report released by KPMG in February found transit ridership has dropped 5% nationally over the past decade, and recommends that agencies evolve to become "mobility aggregators to meet the growing and changing needs of the consumer." Agencies like Dallas Area Rapid Transit are overhauling their own offerings with an eye towards becoming a full Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) offering. Bay Area Rapid Transit’s new app in San Francisco includes driving, walking and biking directions, and will soon build in details on bike- and ride-sharing options, while private companies like Google, Microsoft, Uber and Lyft have also built transit data into their own offerings
