Payment News

Going Digital Needs an Analogue Plan

An article about the challenges of public transport digital ticketing lays out the general problems of going digital.

Mobile phones are not the answer for all sectors of society. Not everyone can afford either a smartphone or the cost of operating one, and you need a certain level of digital and financial literacy to use one, whilst no battery means no service and no connection also equals no service.

Payment cards bring a different set of problems, particularly if transport costs make up a significant portion of your income. In Lima, for example, public transport can account for 20-23% of wages. In that case, the upfront cost of a payment card can be seen as an unnecessary expense and topping up cards comes with a fee. In such circumstances single trip tickets bought in cash are preferred. If the transport system is not integrated, cards may not be interoperable between service providers.