JustRide: New App Sets Athens’ Commuters Free from Cash

Photo source: Mastercard

Athens’ residents and tourists will be set free from scrambling for cash when buying tickets for the metro or bus as the Greek capital is the first city to benefit from “JustRide”, the global partnership between MasterCard and Masabi, a leading company in mobile ticketing for transit.

By combining MasterCard’s payment technology with Masabi’s JustRide mobile ticketing platform, passengers of the Greek capital’s transit system will experience a faster and more convenient way to get around the city.

According to an announcement, Transport for Athens (OASA Group) is switching its entire urban transit network from the current cash only system to an innovative mobile ticketing solution.

By downloading Masabi’s JustRide app, one million daily customers will be able to purchase and display tickets for immediate and future travel through their smartphone, saving time and hassle. JustRide also includes validation software allowing tickets to be scanned using standard smart-phones or using gates or stand-alone validation units.

Transport for Athens expects to reduce its costs for handling cash and paper ticket printing, enabling new investments into its infrastructure and services.

“Mobile ticketing offers a win-win situation for Athens, combining an excellent user experience for passengers with the added benefit of reducing the costs associated with cash handling,” said Gregory Dimitriadis, Chairman of the BoD & CEO, Transport for Athens.

Masabi is active in a number of cities including New York, London and San Diego. It first deployed JustRide with Boston’s MBTA in November 2012 and has been running mobile ticketing for UK Rail since 2007.

“By transforming smart-phones into vending machines, tickets can be purchased any time, any place making waiting in line a thing of the past,” said Brian Zanghi, CEO of Masabi.

“Athens is our first deployment working with MasterCard, and we look forward to working together to enable mobile ticketing and payments in other cities around the globe.”