Moovit, Masabi, and EZfare Partner Up with New Mobile Ticketing

Ohio and Kentucky (Urban Transport News): Moovit an Intel company, a leading Mobility as a Service (MaaS) solutions provider and the creator of the #1 urban mobility app, is announcing its partnership with NEORide, a council of governments dedicated to the development and promotion of regional public transportation services and the creator of EZfare, and Masabi, the company bringing Fare Payments-as-a-Service to public transit. The three organizations have come together to enable Ohio and Kentucky riders to seamlessly and safely purchase and validate EZfare transit tickets, all within the Moovit app, to facilitate a frictionless public transit journey with 13 local transit agencies.

Mobile ticketing offers a significant benefit in keeping both passengers and transit agency employees safe. By providing contactless fare payment that can be visually inspected or scanned at validation units, public transportation riders, and transit agency employees, no longer need to handle cash, cards, or interact with ticketing infrastructure, enabling them to maintain social distancing regulations. 

Moovit, which has helped 865 million users conveniently and confidently get around 3,200 cities across 106 countries, is partnering with Masabi and EZfare in Ohio and Northern Kentucky. Local riders will be able to use Moovit to easily purchase and validate EZfare tickets via Masabi’s integrated and robust fare payments platform, Justride, which operates across 11 countries and for more than 80 agencies of all sizes. 

Once a user launches the Moovit app, inputs their destination and selects their transportation route, Moovit will: 

• Display the total cost of the trip: Whether it’s a single bus trip, or transferring lines between multiple EZfare agencies, Moovit will calculate and display the total, and breakdown, fare of the trip

• Enable in-app ticket purchasing: Users will have the ability to purchase transit tickets directly in the Moovit app, powered by Masabi’s Justride mobile ticketing SDK for public transportation, which means users no longer need to fumble for change or stand in line at transit stations

• Provide a unique QR code for ticket validation: Moovit will display a digital ticket and QR code, courtesy of Masabi, that can be visually inspected or scanned at onboard validation units currently being deployed across EZfare agencies. 

In combination with Moovit’s multimodal journey planning, riders of these transit agencies will be able to plan, pay, and navigate all in one app. 

Yovav Meydad, Moovit’s Chief Growth and Marketing Officer said:

Our vision for a MaaS experience is to give riders the ability to plan, pay, and ride for any public transit, shared mobility, and micro-mobility option - via one app. With seamless integration of mobile ticketing and payment providers, users no longer need to search pockets for change or stand in line to top up monthly transit passes. We are excited to partner with Masabi and NEORide to offer riders a convenient, efficient, and safe way to plan, pay, and ride transit as we continue advancing into our New Normal.

Brian Zanghi, CEO at Masabi, said:

EZfare is an innovative regional solution which continues to grow and evolve and we are thrilled to see our partner Moovit join the initiative to help further increase the discoverability and accessibility of public transit options for riders across Ohio and Kentucky. Now more than ever, we’re searching for and selecting options via mobile, and world-renowned services such as Moovit are integral to helping us shape a future where public transit plays a central role in a convenient and Covid-safe way.

When asked about the integration with Moovit, Ben Capelle, Board President of NEORide and CEO of Laketran stated, “We are excited to expand the fare payment options for our EZfare agencies and their transit customers by using the Moovit app.” 

“Many of the agencies using EZfare would have a difficult time attracting a national partner like Moovit on their own to sell their bus passes, so it’s great to see the coordination efforts among our systems paying off. We hope this partnership attracts new transit systems and payment partners to EZfare as we continue to make it easier and easier for our customers to plan, pay and ride."

Today marks the gradual roll-out of this ticketing feature to Moovit’s Android and iOS users.