SIA and AVM Holding (Azienda Veneziana della Mobilità – the Venice public transport company) have signed an agreement to create an innovative digital platform that will allow residents and tourists to buy tickets using payment cards and smartphones, also in contactless mode, on board the “vaporetto” boats where the crew will be equipped with 650 Android SmartPOS terminals.
The new service, which AVM Holding expects to launch by the end of the year, will significantly improve ticket payment and issuing procedures making the experience simpler, faster and more secure for residents and the millions of tourists getting around Venice every year.
The innovative digital infrastructure designed and developed by SIA, which also manages the latest generation SmartPOS terminals provided by Pax Italia, will allow the vaporetto crews to select the passenger’s ticket type, accept payment by card or smartphone and print it out alongside a receipt, using a single, lightweight, manageable and secure device.
The terminal can also read Tessera Venezia Unica passes valid for transport in Venice, already held by local passengers, and validate all tickets and passes bought at the network of ticket offices, and automatic machines, also by reading Barcodes or QR codes.
In addition, SIA will make available to AVM Holding a dedicated App Store able to manage further applications, alongside those relating to payments for travel, specifically designed for the SmartPOS terminals used by boat crews, thus expanding the offering of innovative services for all passengers.
“E-payments are now present everywhere at international level and with this initiative we make them fully operational for our entire navigation network. This project benefited from the significant collaboration of our IT division with SIA as a primary industry partner and is one of the elements of the technological development of AVM Holding as set out in the Investment Plan defined in agreement with the Municipality of Venice", stated Giovanni Seno, General Manager of the AVM Holding.
“We are very proud to have created a Smart Mobility project for Venice, consistent with our strategy to support national initiatives for digitalization of payment services, in particular in the public transport sector. Venice is the second city in Italy, after Milan, where SIA has enabled residents and tourists to buy tickets electronically, thanks to technological innovation that aims to make also the processes of transport companies more efficient”, commented Eugenio Tornaghi, Marketing & Sales Director of SIA.