Contactless Payments in Transport: tapXphone on Romanian Railways
Railways in Romania now use tapXphone to accept payments. With this technology, passengers can pay their fares with one touch using their proximity bank card directly in the train carriage. This project was implemented jointly with RPC for Regio Calatori railway operator.
Regio Calatori is the largest private passenger rail provider in Romania. Its rolling stock of over 100 rail vehicles serves 45 destinations. The company runs more than 250 train services per day to different regions of the country.
Passengers using the Regio Calatori’s services can now pay their fares using a contactless bank card directly in the carriage. To do this, they need to contact a train steward or hostess. When issuing a ticket, the employee activates the option to pay by bank card on his or her on-board computer to run the RaiPOS application. To pay, the passenger just needs to bring the contactless bank card or other NFC-enabled device to the on-board computer. The payment process takes a few seconds, after which the passenger receives a paper ticket.
Projects related to payment of fares in public transport are usually very complex, since various dedicated equipment must be integrated. In this regard, tapXphone opens up new opportunities. Deployment of an Automatic Fare Collection system becomes much easier, more efficient and cheaper. So this project, which has already been successfully kicked off for the largest private carrier in Romania, is a good case in point. I am convinced that this is just the beginning, and soon we will see other transport solutions powered by tapXphone.
In addition, the payment process is completely safe for the passenger, since during the transaction all security requirements prescribed by international payment systems are observed. Currently, the railway uses more than 300 terminals. Thus, passengers will significantly reduce the time required to purchase a ticket.
About Raiffeisen Bank Romania
Raiffeisen Bank, a top universal bank with solid capitalization and liquidity, operates in the banking market in Romania, serving over 2.2 million customers, both individuals and businesses. The bank has over 4,800 employees in 284 units, 1,131 ATMs & MFM machines, and more than 27,800 POS terminals.
For more than 25 years, Raiffeisen Bank has supported the economic environment in Romania, offering financial products and services developed to meet customer needs. With responsibility as a fundamental principle, we contribute to society’s development by financing the real and sustainable economy. We are also involved in the community, supporting five development pillars: education, urban ecology, sports as a healthy lifestyle, innovation, and, last but not least, art and culture. Since 2023, Raiffeisen Bank has proposed a new approach and perspective on banking services by launching “Banking 1:1,” an interactive way to simulate configuring a financial plan for our customers using the Smart Finance app, developed by the team in Romania. www.raiffeisen.ro
About RPC
RPC is a shared service center of Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) providing a range of card-related services to RBI’s subsidiary banks in CEE. It is one of the largest processing companies in the region, with almost 1.9 billion transactions processed in 2023, hosting over 7.8 million payment cards, and managing a network of 130 thousand, POS terminals. RPC provides services to Raiffeisen banks in Austria, Albania, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Kosovo, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. In 2022 RPC started providing services to the first client outside the RBI Group, following the sale of Raiffeisen bank Bulgaria to the KBC Group and its subsequent merger with the local UBB Bank.