Rome’s Major Transit Operator Expands Open-Loop Service to City’s Buses and Trams
Rome transit operator ATAC announced Thursday that it has begun expanding its open-loop payments service to its buses and trams, more than three years after launching the service on the Rome Metro.
Italian Transit Operators Expand Use of cEMV, but Cash Difficult to Unseat
Major Italian public transit operators, including those in Rome and Milan, see contactless EMV payments as an important option for customers, even enabling them to use their contactless bank cards in place of monthly passes. And the operators have bigger plans for the technology, as well.
Rome Operator: Covid Accelerates Demand for Contactless but Customer Habits Hard to Change
The CIO of Italy’s largest public transit operator, ATAC SpA, said the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated demand for open-loop contactless and mobile payments, but added that old habits are hard to break for customers and use of cash and paper tickets are still popular.
Rome Latest Transit System to Launch Open-Loop Fare Payments; also Enables Monthly Passes with EMV Cards
Rome has become the second major city in Italy–and one of a small but growing number of large cities globally–to enable riders to pay transit fares with EMV contactless credit, debit and prepaid cards and NFC devices.