Mwasalat, Oman’s National Transport Company, operates the state’s bus services offering City and Intercity services. Mwasalat covers main cities such Muscat and the popular touristic destination of Salalah, in addition to planning an introduction for other main cities. Mwasalat Intercity services also deliver a regular bus service between most visited cities within Oman, such as Muscat to Salalah, Nizwa, Sohar and other cities. Carrying a total of 1.5 million passengers with a fleet of 164 vehicles each year, the buses are clean, efficient and used by citizens and tourists alike.  

Taxis in Oman are marked distinctively in orange and white stripes. While a pricier option to the bus, their shared taxis offer cheaper alternatives. Alternatively, small vans also serve as shared transport for short hauls and they charge per stop-over point just like city bus services. 

The need to improve the bus services in Oman was recognised as an important aspect of economic growth and development. For this reason, Mwasalat wishes to become a world-class bus transport operator and provide an efficient bus service that is modern and competitive on a national and international level1.  

WHAT WAS IMPLEMENTED? 

In cooperation with LIT Transit, a Ridango Group company and NEC Corporation, Mwasalat launched a multimodal application in December 2021 as part of a larger national ticketing and AVM project in the Sultanate of Oman including 175 vehicles. The project included the provision of an account-based ticketing solution, AVM solution and multimodal application for passengers.  

The application connects three modes of transport: City buses, intercity buses and airport shuttle services on a national level for a seamless travel experience across the entire country. Apart from a multimodal journey planner, the application provides a centralised “one-stop-shop” for all tickets. 

MAAS TICKETING AND PAYMENT SOLUTION 

• Ticketing: Account-based ticketing 
• Fare policy: Flat, zonal, station-to-station 
• Attractive lower fares through the use of mobile app compared to the normal on-bus sale. 
• Purchase options (gateways): Local debit cards, international credit cards, mobile providers account payments (Pre-paid and Post-paid) and payments through main bus stations 

• Trip payment options:   
  • E-wallet: trip payment with stored value
  • Purchased fare item 

The MaaS application, ticketing service and mobile ticketing backend were provided in collaboration with LIT Transit, a Ridango Group company. 

THE CURRENT SITUATION 

While there were certain obstacles: 

• Revision of existing fare models to match account-based ticketing 
• Introduction of new business processes (e.g., inspection) 

• Introduction of new payment channels 
• Extension of passenger interaction through mobile application 

Overall, the MaaS application encouraged the use of public transport, helped to reduce congestion in cities and provided localised (decentralised) transport services on a regional scale. Users not only benefit from easier travel experiences but, with concessions, benefit also from cheaper services for beneficiaries e.g., special fare prices.   

Mwasalat found that a centrally managed system on a national level is cost-effective due to service optimisation and performance monitoring. They can forecast future service demand requirements. Because of the success, the following steps for Mwasalat are: 

• Encouraging further utilization of the new technology through targeted marketing campaigns through various channels  

• Introduction of period passes 
• Upgrade of intercity bookings 
• Integration with other payment wallet providers and self-service city utility kiosk providers 
• Introduction of contactless EMV payments 

To make it easier for residents to move around the city in already difficult conditions, for surface public transport Kyiv now uses a swipe payment solution created by an Estonian technology company Ridango. 

“It is very important for the people of Kyiv that they can continue their daily activities as efficiently as possible even in the conditions of war, and in a big city, the comfortable functioning of public transport plays a significant role in this. To make it possible, we have developed a solution where passengers can confirm their right to travel by simply swiping a bank card, a phone, or a smart watch. The solution works in buses, trams, and trolleybuses, helping Ukraine move towards a better future,” said Vahur Viigimäe, project manager at Ridango. 

Public transport in Kyiv stopped on the first day of the war, and it was decided to start it again on a symbolic date – May 9 this year. At the moment, street transport runs in a slightly reduced volume compared to pre-war times. “Every day, 1 million trips are validated, 29-30 million per month. This is half as much as before the war, but it is clear that the people of Kyiv are in dire need of convenient public transport,” Viigimäe added.

Viigimäe noted that the challenges in creating a solution for public transport in Kyiv were also technical: “They use the so-called Kyiv cards, which, in addition to having a banking application, are also used in transport services. Most holders of these cards have the right to travel free of charge. Therefore, it was necessary to ensure that such persons do not have to pay the fare.” The Ridango payment solution supports MasterCard and Visa cards (including virtual ones), and at the end of the year, support for Prostir cards, domestic payment cards of Ukraine, will also be added. 

Ridango is a rapidly growing Estonian technology company. “Our ambitious goal is to become the world’s leading provider of smart transport systems and a well-established group of technology companies related to the public transport sector by 2026,” said the chairman of the management board of Ridango Erki Lipre.  

Ridango has delivered a vehicle ticketing platform for one of the largest public transport authorities in Sweden – Skånetrafiken. Ridango’s ticketing equipment is installed in more than 1000 vehicles, enabling contactless EMV payments and validation of mobile tickets.

When Ridango launched contactless bank card payments in public transport in Skåne, we became the first in Nordics to bring contactless bank card payments into public transport.

In addition, Ridango is providing Skånetrafiken with driver information solution.

Ridango is providing an account-based ticketing system and real-time passenger information solution for Södermanland County. The supply includes among other things all necessary vehicle hardware as well as POS devices for retail network, but also customer web portal and end-to-end functionality for complete fare collection. The sophisticated real-time system provides an overview of all public buses and interfaces to support spreading the real-time information to the wider public.

Ridango’s ticketing system helped to expand the ticket sales network and improve the services for passengers.

Since 2012, Ridango is the provider of full ticketing solution provider in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. In addition to delivery and support of the ticketing system, Ridango also operates full retail network, including management of the e-wallet, which is interoperable with other regions in Estonia.

Ridango’s offering in Tallinn goes well beyond public transport – we have extended the scope of the solution to various city services, and venues such as museums, the Tallinn Zoo, different sports facilities. Ridango has also provided the Park&Ride solution, which is fully integrated with the ticketing system.

The latest development in Tallinn is the launch of contactless EMV bank card acceptance in Tallinn’s public transport in August 2018.