Urban mobility firm, Flowbird, has revealed that the ‘tap to pay’ open payment system it deployed on the T2C transport network in Clermont Ferrand in France in September 2022 has surpassed 100,000 transactions – an impressive milestone for a city with a modest population of 141,000.

The ticketing and payment solution developed by Flowbird, in partnership with the Syndicat Mixte des Transports en Commun de lAgglomération Clermontoise (SMTC-AC), has enabled Clermont Ferrand to claim a leading role in the modernisation of transport ticketing in France. Despite its modest size, it joins the ranks of around 30 agencies that have been the first to pioneer open payments on transport.

François Rage, CEO at SMTC-AC, said: “We are very pleased to see that our passengers have taken up this contactless technology. It is part of our goal to make travelling easier so that using our public transport system is even more attractive.”

The open payments system was introduced following investment in ticketing on the T2C network, aimed at creating faster, easier payment experiences. By speeding up boarding and journey times, Clermont Ferrand aims to motivate more people to use public transport instead of private cars.

Flowbird has nine open payments deployments to date, in France, Canada, the UK and Australia, including a national roll-out in Northern Ireland. Many more projects are lined up to follow soon.

Cities can now work with Flowbird to facilitate acceptance of all types of transport payments: open payments (with a bank card or mobile wallet); closed-loop payments (with a stored value transit smartcard); mobile and online payments; and cash. Its cloud-based payment platform is PCI DSS-compliant, and meets the requirements of card schemes’ rules for transit, providing a secure environment for payment acceptance, processing and collection.