The modernization of CP's validators is crucial so that it will soon be possible to travel on Lisbon's urban trains with a bank card or cell phone.
The days of CP's old validators are numbered. The railway operator has begun replacing the validators at train stations in the Lisbon and Porto metropolitan areas. In the case of the capital region, the 209 pieces of equipment will be replaced by 283 new ones, which, in addition to operating with the latest ticketing API from Transportes Metropolitanos de Lisboa (TML), will also now be able to payments contactless or scanning QR codes (for example, from MB Way).
The old validators will gradually be removed and replaced by the new ones, New locations are planned for the various stations. In the main stations, such as Entrecampos, Oriente and Sete Rios, 15 validators will be placed; In other smaller stations, between one and 12 validators are planned. A total of 542 validators were ordered for the two metropolitan areas: 283 for Lisbon and 259 for Porto.
“CP wants to develop the ticketing solution in line with constant business developments, simplifying processes, sales channels and validation, to respond effectively to customers” ever-increasing mobility needs", can be read in the specifications associated with this investment. Yellow in color, the new validators will integrate with “the new APEX API to be made available by TML (Transportes Metropolitanos de Lisboa) to CP” and which, in essence, allows CP to be part of the Navegante ticketing system, which operates throughout the Lisbon region.
Technologically, the new equipment will allow the “contactless title validation, mobile application (NFC + Bluetooth), EMV, QR code reader and Account Based Ticketing (tokens)”. In other words, they enable CP to be ready for the future of ticketing, which involves using contactless bank cards, systems such as Apple and Google Pay, MB Way (with QR code or proximity scanning) and even the Navegante pass in the digital wallet on the cell phone.
The new validators will be installed through a global contract of around 1.6 million euros, signed with the company Sigma by the end of 2023.
The modernization of CP's validators has European funding under the MOBIL.T project, which ran from 2018 to this year. With a total budget of almost 21 million euros, 4.2 of which came from the European Union, this project mobilized several operators in the metropolitan area and allowed them to modernize the ticketing system that today we call Navegante. It was with this project, managed by TML, that transport companies replaced their equipment and enabled card payments contactless, cell phone or MB Way.
CP is the company that is furthest behind in this modernization. It is now the operator with the oldest validators in the Lisbon metropolitan area. Carris, Carris Metropolitana, TCB, MobiCascais, Metro de Lisboa, MTS, Fertagus and TTSL already have modern validators. The MTS was one of the last to replace the equipment in its vehicles. Only with the technological migration underway at CP will the cell phone pass, without the need for a physical card, be a reality.
