Over the recent years, BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) has gained massive popularity. Over 34 million passengers ride on BRT on a daily basis across the globe while 61% of those journeys happen in Latin America. It is therefore not an understatement to say that BRT is the king of transportation in the region! It represents both a convenient and fast travel mode for passengers worldwide. Yet today, the increased demand for modern technologies in BRT deprives operators from almost half of their potential customers, those carrying payment cards and willing to pay digitally.

Progress in digital technologies opens up an array of new opportunities for public transportation worldwide. With improvements in convenience, payment methods, and technologies, public transport such as bus and rail services are slowly becoming as convenient as your own personal mode of transport.

Payments in transport are gradually shifting from cash and closed-loop cards to a more holistic open-loop ticketing experience across all channels. The technological concept behind open-loop allows for the acceptance of any form of payment using fare media through the network of a transit operators or other ticketing service providers. Examples might include QR codes, NFC chips, key fobs, cards, transport virtual cards, smartwatches, and more. The degree of freedom an end-user could enjoy, whether they are a commuter or a business, greatly increases as there is no constraint linked to the use of cash, which remains an unhygienic means of payment in Covid times.