The future of single-use ticketing – Q&A with NXP Semiconductors

In a world where people both need and expect quick and convenient payment methods for everything from groceries to shopping on a mobile, it’s no surprise that contactless solutions have become a necessity for public transport operators.

These solutions make public transport more attractive for occasional travellers, and there’s now opportunity for operators to implement contactless ticketing in an affordable way, thus avoiding costly cash handling and expensive system maintenance.

In NXP’s upcoming live webinar, we’ll be discussing the features and benefits of its new contactless solution for single-use smart paper tickets; MIFARE Ultralight Nano. The solution provides easy migration from traditional ticketing solutions to a contactless alternative, which helps to achieve greater user throughput. What’s more, going contactless reduces the risk of fraud, and NXP’s solution also aggregates NFC-based services.

We got in touch with one of the webinar’s speakers, Miriama Faberova, Product Marketing Manager at NXP Semiconductors, to answer the following questions and find out more about the new solution, and how contactless continues to change the industry:

How does NXP’s technology make it easy for transport operators to migrate from traditional ticketing solutions to contactless?

Nowadays the contactless infrastructure that supports extended-use smartcards for fare systems is well adopted and present in almost every major city around the globe. However, the transport ticketing sector used to be slightly different. Due to cost reasons, many cities relied on traditional ticket – ing technologies such as magnetic stripe, pure printing or even cash systems. The existing contactless infrastructure facilitates the migra – tion from traditional technologies to contactless systems, limited-, or even single-use tickets, in an easy way, as often only a small software update is required.

NXP’s MIFARE smartcard technology offers the right solution for different types of fare media and is based on the international, widely accepted communication standard ISO/IEC 14443-A. With the introduction of MIFARE Ultralight Nano in 2016, the migration of traditional single-use tickets to contactless got another boost. With the efficient price of the final ticket, fitting its one-time use character, MIFARE Ultralight Nano allows operators to take advantage of contactless and forget about legacy technology. Transport operators can benefit from limited risks and total system savings when using contactless, enabled through reduced maintenance costs. Ultimately, commuters enjoy a seamless travel experience thanks to improved convenience and reliability at the fare gate.

With fraud and cybersecurity dominating the industry, how can NXP help with these issues?

As a leader in the identification business, NXP is committed to providing secure connections for a smarter world. This commitment is leading our focus in every area we operate, including public transport. NXP’s product offering addresses appropriate levels of security, fitting to the requirements of different applications while protecting the value of assets. Extended-use tickets – which are based on MIFARE Plus or MIFARE DESFire – ensure best-in-class protection throughout the lifetime, being security certified by independent certification institutes. The security level of these products is comparable with those used in the banking or identification sector.

NXP can also effectively protect assets in limited-use transport ticketing. By offering scalable means of assurance, limited-use applications profit from enhanced security compared to traditional solutions such as magnetic stripe tickets, paper printed tickets or cash-handling systems. Contactless technology further reduces the risk of fraud, as possible attacks of copying are considered as impractical in view of the gained value versus resources needed. One of NXP’s latest smartcard technologies, the MIFARE Ultralight Nano chip, comes with a customisable proof of origin for the issuing authorities which, together with the single-use nature, further limits fraud and enables system differentiation.

In what ways does contactless ticketing contribute to passenger satisfaction?

Contactless chip technology is superior to any traditional technology such as magnetic stripe or printed barcode/QR-code with respect to the usability. Today, tapping your contactless card is a natural way of accessing public transport, stadiums, hotels and much more. This makes passengers more knowledgeable and demanding while keeping the costs of passenger education low. Additional benefits of contactless ticketing include increased passenger throughput rates at fare gates as well as a reduction of expenses related to passenger assistance in scenarios such as wrong media usage or corrupted ticket data. Commuters do not have to focus on how to present their ticket to the gate and the higher reliability of the transaction leads to improved journey satisfaction for the ticket holder.

In peak hours, where quick passenger throughput is essential, the reliability of contactless technology enables a more flawless movement at ticket gates, thus enhancing the user-experience of all passengers – not just limited-use ticket holders.

The introduction of contactless tickets adds value for everyone; the end-user benefits from increased convenience and the transport operator gets cost-efficient operations and maintenance. Furthermore, transport operators gain additional options to boost the passenger offering and can introduce more competitive services. In general, the use of contactless technology is not limited to graphical design or form factors such as tickets. Contactless chips can be housed almost everywhere, in smart paper tickets with space for printed advertisements, in key fobs, or fancy collectables for tourists.

How can I join the live webinar?

The live webinar will take place on Wednesday 18 October at 15:00 (UK) / 16:00 (Europe) and is completely free to attend. Following the discussion, there will be a live Q&A session with Miriama Faberova. Register here for the live webinar.

I’m not available for the live webinar – how else can I watch the webinar?

If you are unavailable on Wednesday 18 October for the live webinar you can still register now and we will notify you as soon as the webinar recording is available to watch online.