Summary - TTFC MENA 2024

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region offers significant opportunity to fare system and transit ticketing suppliers, vendors, service providers and consultants. Nearly 100 upcoming urban rail projects offer an AFC opportunity worth over USD4 billion by 2036.

Federal and local governments as well as public transport authorities (PTAs) and operators (PTOs) are laying emphasis on new technologies with the spotlight being on contactless and open loop payments for transit, bank cards and mobile ticketing, smart ticketing for smart cities, use of future technologies, AI and data-driven smart urban mobility, digitalisation and more.

The digital transit payment landscape in the Middle East is rapidly evolving, driven by technological advancements and increasing adoption of new solutions across the region's transport networks. This offers many benefits such as a seamless travel experience for passengers and increased ridership, enhanced fare revenues and reduced fare evasion for PTAs/PTOs.

While deploying new technologies, PTAs/PTOs need to take several decision. These relate to technology choice (open-loop or closed-loop), stakeholder management, project delivery, financing models, etc. Other key areas of discussion include potential business models for the financial industry, integration of mobile payments and wallets with the existing infrastructure, digitalisation in public transport, effective collection and analysis of data, and mobility-as-a-service (MaaS).

To discuss the potential of contactless payments and highlight innovations in transit ticketing, Global Mass Transit is organising the fourth conference on Transit Ticketing & Fare Collection MENA 2024 on September 10-11, 2024 at Grand Hyatt Dubai.

The mission of 2024 edition is is to discuss deployment of contactless payments and open loop payments for transit ticketing, experience so far and future plans, role of smart ticketing in building smart cities, stakeholder management, project delivery, fare policy, effective utilisation of data, integration of fare payments with new mobility providers, and the concept of Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS). It will also highlight global best practices and showcase new technologies.

The two-day conference will have 12 targeted sessions with speakers providing insights and actionable advice to deploy advanced fare collection systems, highlighting developments and opportunities, and offering solutions to enhance the customer experience. The conference will also help participants understand the role of transit agencies, operators, fare system providers, hardware and software suppliers, acquirers and technology suppliers in establishing advanced, integrated and interoperable ticketing systems.

The event will bring together experts from leading public transport authorities (PTAs), public transport operators (PTOs), state/local governments, system integrators, technology and service provider firms, smartcard companies, technology and equipment manufacturers, mobile ticketing vendors, credit card companies, data architecture and IT firms, fare collection system suppliers, dynamic multiservice journey planners, taxi fleet operators, ride-hailing and ride-sharing service providers, micro-mobility providers, ticketing infrastructure providers, industry consultants, research and development organisations, financiers, technical institutes, etc.

Current size of the MENA transit fare systems market
Key role of contactless payments and transit ticketing
Key emerging trends and future outlook
Plans of transport authorities, operators and governments for deploying contactless payment technology
Project delivery and financing models
Best practices in procurement and technology selection
Benefits and challenges pertaining to the integration and interoperability of ticketing systems
Mobile wallets and EMV cards for transit payments
Integration of mobile ticketing with the existing infrastructure
Potential of bank cards for transit ticketing, business models and strategies
Partnerships among transit agencies, mobile operators and financial institutions
Benefits of account-based ticketing (ABT) and open loop payment systems
Potential and benefits of data generated by use of advanced ticketing systems
Data generation, data sharing, data analysis and privacy
Integrating public transit with taxis, car-sharing schemes and new mobility solutions
Role of smart ticketing in building smart cities
Going beyond transit ticketing to provide value-added services to customers
Concept of MaaS, deployment of MaaS and benefits to users and transit agencies
EV Charging Payments integrated with fare payments
Integrating trip planning apps and transit ticketing
New developments in fare payments and micro mobility
Integrating fare media with tourist passes
UAE’s plan to go cashless by 2030. Where are we now?
Accelerating digital payments
Future of Bitcoin in transit fare payments
Electronic toll collection (ETC): digitalising toll payments
Use of new technologies in transit payments: Wearable, Soundbased technologies; Host CardEmulation (HCE); Facial recognition, Biometric payments etc.

Fourth conference on

Transit Ticketing & Fare Collection MENA 2024