Passengers will simply be able to tap their contactless bank cards to travel, removing the hassle of having to purchase a ticket or carry cash.

The city of Bilbao will be the launch operator initially piloting on its urban bus service, Bilbobus and working in conjunction with Masabi’s Spanish partner Gertek. This new component of Masabi’s Justride Platform makes using contactless payment cards to tap to travel available to authorities and operators of all sizes around the globe. Due to Masabi’s SaaS approach to fare collection this can be enabled efficiently with the cloud-based system reducing the cost of running and maintaining expensive IT infrastructure. The system can also be configured to meet customers specific fare and policy requirements, including rules such as entitlements, fare capping and best fare finding.

The new system includes an account-based back office with a dedicated management suite enabling Bilbobus staff to perform a variety of customer service and administrative tasks. The Bilbao deployment will use contactless EMV validation devices across busses used in the pilot, providing Bilbobus with rich data insights as well as helping reduce dwell times, improving journey times for all.

The Justride platform is already in use with over 40 transport authorities and operators around the globe including in major cities such as New York, London, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Boston, Sydney and for Lurraldebus in Spain.

“Masabi is bringing SaaS account-based contactless EMV ticketing to cities and transport authorities of all sizes around the globe. This will revolutionize the passenger experience, allowing them to simply tap their contactless bank card to travel,” said Brian Zanghi, CEO of Masabi. “We are very excited to bring this new service to passengers in Bilbao and to offer it to other customers of our Justride platform.”

“As a city we are focused on promoting new forms of mobility, as well as deploying innovative technology to improve the passenger experience on our existing network,” said Alfonso Gil, Councillor of the area of mobility and sustainability of Bilbao. “We are excited to be the world’s first city to deploy this innovative Masabi solution and look forward to the response from our passengers.”

“We are seeing a revolution in how passengers interact with urban transportation, and ticketing is very much at the forefront of this movement,” said Iker Iturbe CEO of Gertek. “Working in conjunction with our partner Masabi, we are delighted to be bringing this cutting-edge system to the city of Bilbao, making paying to use public transport as quick and simple as tapping a card.”

Sapan Shah, vice president, Enterprise Partnerships, Mastercard: “As the world becomes increasingly urban, residents and visitors expect their commute to be as easy and simple as possible. Having worked with Masabi to bring Mastercard Transit Solutions to many cities across the globe, we are excited to see a next generation of mobility services taking shape.”