Fertagus will gradually replace the validators in all stations and says that direct payment functionality with a contactless bank card should be available in November.
Fertagus is the first operator to make travel payments available directly with a bank card. As of November, when new validators will be available in all stations, it will be possible to pull the card over to one of these devices and make the trip, without any pre-loading or previous configuration: just pull over and travel.
The project is pioneer in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and was announced as part of the European Mobility Week, involving as main partners the American payments company Mastercard and the Israeli digital bank Finaro.
As of November, Fertagus' occasional passengers will now be able to use their contactless payment card to travel on the trains, without having to waste time buying a ticket at a ticket office or automatic machine. Although this is a partnership between Fertagus, Mastercard and Finaro, the system will be valid for any bank card contactlesseven if it is from competitor VISA. Passengers will have to select their destination at the validator and then swipe their card for payment; the trip will cost the same as a traditional ticket purchase, depending on the destination selected.
Payment with contactless cards on Fertagus was tested this Thursday between Sete Rios (Lisbon) and Pragal (Almada), with implementation across the entire Fertagus network scheduled for November. The adoption of contactless payments in public transports avoids the need for users to previously buy a ticket and is especially designed for occasional passengers, i.e. those who do not have a "Navegante" pass because they only travel once in a while. With this solution, payment is made through the payment card contactlessdirectly in the validators.
Validators will be renewed: one to two new ones per station, in a first phase
Fertagus will renew the more than 200 validators in its stations to allow contactless payment, but also other forms of payment in the future. The new devices will be able to read QR codes (for pre-purchased tickets in digital format, for example), will have a touch screen that will simplify the zapping (currently passengers who have zapping have to go to a machine to select the destination before traveling, even if they have a balance on their card) and will also have Bluetooth, which will enable communication between the validators and a cell phone.
In a first phase, already in November, Fertagus intends to have one to two new validators in its stations for cards contactlesswhich will accept only that form of payment; the Navegante cards will have to be passed through the old validators. Only in a second phase, during the first half of 2023, will the new validators also accept the Navegante cards. The substitution of the old validators by the new ones will be gradual.
Fertagus, which today has more than 90 thousand daily passengers, expects a positive impact from this technological renovation. In the London capital, Transport for London (Tfl), which operates buses, subway, and trains, has recorded three times as many trips since the launch of the solution contacless in September 2014, in which 19 million bank cards from over 100 different countries were used. At the same time, Tfl achieved a cost reduction of 35%, more than 100 million euros.
Contactless is already a reality in Porto and will also reach Carris Metropolitana
"Fertagus has been a pioneer in Portugal in several innovative projects, such as the use of cell phones for travel and now the contacless bank cards"Clara Esquível, administrator of Fertagus, said in a communiqué. "We want it to be easy for everyone to use the train, even if it's their first time on this transport, and the contacless bank cards allow that ease - not to mention the environmental gain that comes with saving paper tickets."
Fertagus already has digital tickets through the Pick Hub applicationwhere you can buy train trips for this operator, but also load the Navegante pass, valid on all operators. In Portugal, the first solution contactless in public transportation is available in Porto since 2021. In the Invicta city, it is possible to travel on STCP's line 500, between Praça da Liberdade and Matosinhos Market, just by using a bank card; similarly, it is possible to travel on the Metro, as long as the departure station is one of these: Airport, Senhora da Hora, Casa da Música, Trindade, Campanhã, Bolhão, Campo 24 de Agosto, São Bento and Aliados. The system is to be extended to all public transportation in Porto and its metropolitan area in the next two years.
Transportes Metropolitanos de Lisboa (TML) is also working to make payments available in 2023 contactless on the Carris Metropolitana network.
