Even in times of the pandemic, cashless payment has gained enormous popularity. Safe and convenient - that was the reason for many to switch to payment by card. Now this is even more possible on Frankfurt's public transport system: from the end of April, passengers will be able to buy their tickets conveniently without cash on all Frankfurt city buses. With this, the municipal public transport company traffiQ is completing a demanding project after a good year: the ticket printers in well over 400 buses had to be equipped with the corresponding NFC readers (NFC: Near Field Communication), as they are known, for example, from retail stores.
Payments can be made by passengers using contactless bank or credit cards, as well as the payment apps stored on smartphones and smartwatches. But of course, they can still pay with cash.
Electronic payment has advantages for everyone, such as shorter stops at bus stops and thus greater punctuality of local transport. Passengers can save themselves the trouble of searching for the right change. It goes without saying that contactless payment makes sense in times of the - hopefully fading - Corona pandemic. Passengers benefit from greater security because they carry less cash. Finally, for the transport companies, the time-consuming cash processing is reduced.
"By offering our passengers the opportunity to pay electronically on city buses, we are taking advantage of the opportunities offered by digitization to make Frankfurt's local transport more attractive," says traffiQ Managing Director Tom Reinhold. "Mobility and innovation go hand in hand here.
