Vayapay recently made its mark at the Transport Ticketing Global (TTG) conference, where our Chief Commercial Officer, Wido Beekman, participated in an insightful panel discussion. The session, titled "How Partnerships Fuel Payment Innovation for Public Transportation," was expertly moderated by Lawrence Sutton, Principal Consultant at Consult Hyperion. Wido was joined by Heidi L. Hansen, Distribution and Innovation Manager at Flytoget AS in Norway, and Cillian Maher, Head of Partnerships for Emerging Verticals Europe at Elavon.

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The panel showcased our unique collaboration with Flytoget and Elavon on a groundbreaking project for Flytoget, Norway's innovative airport express train service. This partnership has delivered the world's first omnichannel ID-based ticketing and set a standard for how operators, payment providers, and acquirers can innovate to enhance the customer experience.

Customer-Driven Innovation

The discussion highlighted Flytoget's latest project, Master Profiling, which creates an anonymous traveller profile across sales channels. As Heidi Hansen explained during the panel, "One of our biggest customer service challenges stemmed from customers using the same card across different sales channels and devices, such as a watch, phone, or physical card. For instance, if a customer registered their card in the app and purchased a ticket, but then used Apple Pay on their phone for ticketless travel the next time, the system couldn't recognise them as the same customer. This happens because each payment method creates different tokens or backend IDs. We needed to solve this so customers could move freely between channels while registering their information just once."

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This project required tokenisation and payment expertise commonly not found in the public transport sector. With its financial expertise and systems, Vayapay is uniquely positioned to deliver this know-how. Leveraging their omnichannel payment service, they worked alongside Elavon to provide a solution that addresses the complexity of transit payments.

A Decade in the Making

The journey to develop the Master Profile was not straightforward. Hansen remarked during the discussion: "It's taken us eight years to find somebody that wanted to do this with us, to try to figure out the solution on how you could make all these IDs for the same card act in the same way and be recognised as one card. And then not to depend on where you purchased tickets on your previous journeys, in what channel and via what device and so on." This persistence highlights the complexity of payments in public transit and Flytoget's commitment to delivering an exceptional customer experience.

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With its payment service, Vayapay bridges the gap between the financial and mobility worlds. As Wido Beekman explained, "Our financial expertise allows us to simplify payment processes for transit operators. With Master Profiling, we've built an omnichannel solution that lets passengers flow freely between payment methods, whether it's a card, mobile wallet, or online transactions, while being recognised as the same user. This eliminates friction and creates a seamless experience." This innovation enhances the customer experience and reduces Flytoget’s operational costs.

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Vayapay’s comprehensive tokenisation enables interoperability across multiple transit operators and mobility services. By connecting different payment methods to a single passenger identity, users are recognised consistently regardless of how they pay or which transit operator they pay at, reducing friction for passengers and public transit operators alike.

The Power of Strategic Partnerships

The panel emphasised the critical role of partnerships in driving payment innovation. Heidi Hansen highlighted how Flytoget's collaboration with our team and Elavon has enabled the adoption of modern payment systems that enhance the passenger experience.

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Cillian Maher of Elavon shared how "working with Vayapay and Flytoget allowed us to push the boundaries of what's possible in transit payments. This project is a testament to the power of collaboration." Our own Wido Beekman added: "By working closely with our transit agency and acquirer partners, we can ensure our solution not only meets technical requirements but also delivers a truly customer-centric experience."

Looking Ahead: The Future of Transit Payments

The discussion highlighted how this decade-long project addresses a fundamental challenge in transit payments: providing frictionless payment for mobility. The Master Profiling project removes the customer’s frustration of having multiple digital identities when using the same card through different methods (online, physical card, phone, watch), enabling a frictionless payment experience.

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The Norwegian government's partial funding of this as a research project also underscores its innovation significance. This partnership demonstrates how collaboration between transit agencies, payment service providers, and acquirers can drive transformative solutions that extend beyond one isolated implementation. As Wido noted, Vayapay's ability to deliver full omnichannel payment integration creates interoperability across transit networks, in-app transactions, and vending scenarios. This establishes a model that can benefit the broader transit industry as agencies worldwide seek to reduce friction points in the passenger journey.

About Vayapay

Vayapay disrupts public transit fare collection with its omnichannel payment platform. Our technology delivers frictionless payment for mobility using its master profile capabilities, advanced tokenisation, and interoperability by design. With the Vayapay payment service, transit operators benefit from financial innovations that enhance passenger experiences. 

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Vayapay is part of XPP. XPP brings together the capabilities, experience, and expertise of Vayapay, Ginger, KUARIO, and Pecunda, merging strengths across urban mobility, higher education, corporate vending and catering, public spaces, and e-commerce to create integrated payment products that work smarter, faster, and more intuitively for your customers.

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For more information, visit www.vayapay.com.