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Urban mobility: validating tickets with your smartphone is now possible in France!

Written by Lucie Texerot | Jul 28, 2017 11:45:00 AM

“Users of Orléans city transport network can now buy and validate tramway tickets using their smartphones” (La République du Centre newspaper). COMECA, subsidiary of COMECA Group and specialised in embedded wiring, participated in the deployment of the innovative solution for all tramways in the city. A unique system on this network in France.

From last June 6th, the KEOLIS group, one of the world’s leading public transport operators, launched its M-ticket, ticket users can purchase and validate directly from their mobile.

To connect and install this technical solution, KEOLIS relied on COMECA’s know-how for the cabling part.

After defining and implementing all the routing of power supply wiring and Ethernet connection, COMECA installed two validating machines with specific optical reader in each tramway tramsets, a total of 43 tram sets equipped between February and April 2017.

After work validation to ensure a speed of 100 Mbits/s, the validating machines are now in operation on the whole transport network of Orléans.

An optional pre-cabling, chosen by KEOLIS, will soon enable to increase the number of validating machine from 2 to 4 in each tram with minor intervention.

For passengers, the system is very easy to use. After downloading the TAO application on their smartphone, users will just have to scan the barcode displayed on their screen in front of the validating machine. The application is compatible with all Android and IOS mobile phones.

For the customer, the goal is to meet a specific need: making public transport easier via the dematerialization of tickets. Another priority for the company is to fight against fraud.

“The work completed by COMECA is tireless and the validating machines are today perfectly connected to each other in the entire tram network” indicates as a conclusion Marie-Laure BRAME-JEZEQUEL, Project Manager at KEOLIS Orléans.

A satisfied customer and a nice urban mobility project for COMECA , which might lead the company to install its solution in other French cities in the near future.