State of the Market: Four Challenges Shaping the Ticketing Landscape in 2025

While we often reflect and talk about transformative years, 2024 stands out as a key milestone in transport ticketing. Open standards provided the foundation to the Paris transport ticketing system during the Olympics, including a market-first integration into Apple and Samsung Wallets. New solutions continue to grow, particularly in response to the need for secure and reloadable tickets for occasional passengers.

But there remain changing market dynamics that face the community of ticketing players:

1. The industry is focused on account-based ticketing, with systems led by the payments community – such as Mastercard and Visa – getting visibility.
2. The main chip suppliers are focusing their platform development on banking and government sector requirements, so technical advances are centred on Type A ISO 14443 This means it is essential that ticketing equipment is compliant with the standard processing of both Type A and Type B ISO media.
3. Regulation is playing a welcome role in defining regional standards to ensure the delivery of reliable and secure digital ecosystems, but it often comes at a cost and can require technical upgrades and changes in how we do things.
4. And crucially, budgets are shrinking. Every technical advancement and implementation needs to be scalable, optimised and offer a clear ROI for travellers.

The reality is that it has never been more important for ticketing operators and network providers to have sovereignty of their systems. Without doubt, this year will be a further test to the resilience and resolve of the ticketing, mobility and access communities.

For operators and networks to manage these dynamics, they must:

1. Know their customer. This is no longer a choice but a need. A transit app places passengers at the centre of the travel experience, and gaining traveller data is key to providing a true and seamless user experience by virtualising routes, guiding travellers through their journey and offering them the best mobility packages.
2. Ensure systems are agile, and operators and networks have the ability to manage and control advances, rather than have enforced technical upgrades regulated by outside parties and industries. Systems also need to successfully co-exist to enable the delivery of tailored ticketing for a range of demographics.
3. Safeguard revenue: it is about controlling costs, protecting sales against fraud and guaranteeing the reliability of information. Avoiding unforeseen operational fees and ensuring the ability to multi-source products is vital to deliver competitive pricing for quality service. This open approach not only promotes competition and lowers the total cost of ownership, but also inspires innovation based on proven standards.

And this is what openness gives to users. At CNA, we believe in open source alongside open standards to ensure ‘plug and play’ technology that is reliant, accessible and trusted. As a collective voice, ticketing players must explain and represent its needs to regulators. And vitally, we must continue working together to develop the infrastructure and systems that empowers ticketing operators and networks to master their own systems.