Coming to pay tickets (and) using a smartphone in the urban transport of Athens – Planetes

According to the site Athens TransportThe organization will proceed with the largest upgrade of the e-ticket system, after the signing of the PPP contract for the project at the end of 2014. The most important of the expected changes is undoubtedly the possibility of using bank cards for travel, instead of the plastic Ath.ena card and of course the paper Ath.ena ticket. In addition, the interoperability of the system with other applications is enhanced, thus enabling urban transport passengers in Athens to use their accounts for other services besides paying their fare.

Some of the examples cited by AthensTransport relate to mobility as a service such as offshore, with the simultaneous use of different means by different agencies. Thus, it becomes possible to buy tickets for shows, rent bicycles or electric scooters, travel by taxi or ride-sharing services such as Uber or even travel by means outside the OASA system such as intercity buses and ferries.

The new contactless payment method does not remove any discount for the passenger because by using his mobile phone to pay for the ticket via Google Pay or Apple Pay, the passenger will not have to search for the most advantageous ticket to buy for a flight. The system will charge him using price caps for his movements per month, and he will be billed as if he had purchased the package of tickets most advantageous to him.

The possibility of using bank cards to issue tickets is a topic that has already been discussed since 2018, while many European (and non-European) cities have adopted a similar system with impressive results. According to the terms of the project contract, it is expected that the modification of operation of the automatic commission collection system will be completed by the contractor based on the concession contract in 2026.