Author: Simon Laker
Simon Laker is a Principal Consultant who heads Mobility Payments and the US consulting team. A global authority on the implementation of open payments systems in public transport, using a payment credential as a token for travel. He worked with Transport for London and the major payment schemes to define the operational and transaction models to support the use of payment cards in place of transit tickets in the UK. His work has subsequently been adopted and deployed globally by the Payment Schemes. Simon is currently using his knowledge to help define similar schemes in North and South America including the MTA in New York, the MBTA in Boston and WMATA in Washington. He is also advising domestic and PIN Debit Schemes on their strategy towards Open Loop Transit Payments and authoring briefing papers on the specific risks and opportunities within the emerging global transit markets for senior executives within the Payment Brands.
Do I need to upgrade my Fare Collection system to support CBDC?
This week, a press release from China announced they had expanded acceptance of the digital Yuan onto public transport in 12 cities. China has led the way in the development of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), launching a trial in 2020 which has been expanding steadily. But what does this mean? What is a CBDC? And when will I need to consider accepting them in public transportation?
How the past (ticketing technology) can still be relevant in the future.
Last week, I attended the excellent Transport Ticketing Digital Summit which focused on advances in fare collection and Mobility as a Service (MaaS).