Contactless ticketing rolls out on Cannes Palm Bus network

The Cannes Lérins Agglomération has launched contactless EMV (cEMV) ticketing on the Palm Bus network in Cannes, France, in collaboration with Palm Bus, Kuba, La Banque Postale, and Littlepay, which provides payments infrastructure for transport and mobility operators.

Passengers across the network of over 200 buses will be able to pay for trips with a Visa or Master card contactless bank card or using Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay via their smartphone. The City sees this fuss-free transit payment experience, which doesn’t require knowledge of local ticketing systems, as a vital improvement for both residents and the many tourists that visit the city during its annual film festival and peak Summer season.

Littlepay has integrated Kuba’s Vix CP6500 validator and AFC back office to its payments platform, so that cEMV can be added to a range of ticketing options Kuba already provides for Palm Bus, including mobile QR codes and closed-loop smart cards. 

“The deployment of the open payment solution in our region is the result of a long-standing collaboration between our agglomération, our transport company Palm Bus, and our technology partner Kuba,” said Frederic Marandon, DGA Mobility of the Cannes pays de Lérins Agglomération. “The addition of this service, with the support of Littlepay, responds to our mission to simplify access to public transport for our regular and occasional customers.”

Kuba has used Littlepay’s Inspect API to develop a fare inspection app that will be used to deter fare evasion. This is installed on NFC-compatible Android mobile devices, which Palm Bus’ fare inspection staff can use to check passengers’ cards against a list of known taps. The app removes the need for expensive, PCI-compliant fare inspection hardware to establish whether passengers are travelling with a valid cEMV ‘token’ for travel.