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ATM Milano: get through the turnstiles of the metro using your credit card

Milan, just like London, Chicago, and Singapore: it will be possible to get on the metro using contactless cardsNews: turnstiles for contactless payment in the metro of Milan

It took many years to make this initiative possible, but ATM is taking giant steps: from June onwards, it will be possible to travel paying for your ticket directly at the entrance turnstiles of the metro and railway stations.

The word has been spreading for quite some time, but only last month the general director of ATM, Arrigo Giana, made the announcement of the starting month, the month of June. Here is what he stated at the end of the commune’s Mobility commision meeting: “It will be possible to use credit cards on all metro lines. Initially, there will be only one turnstile per station equipped with card readers, as we are starting with an experimental stage.

Credit cards to pay for your metro ticket in Milan

The experimental stage

Since the initiative is only in an initial experimental stage, only one turnstile in each of the 113 stations will be equipped with contactless machines, as well as with ticket readers, monthly/yearly pass readers, and QR code scanners for tickets purchased via smartphone app.

ATM has registered a large number of ticket purchases via text, app, and Qrcode: over 4.700.000 tickets sold via SMS, and over 3.400.000 via app, totaling over 8.000.000 digital tickets sold over the past three years.

Initially it will be an experimental project sponsored by Banca Intesa San Paolo, which will receive a 4.3% commission on every transaction. The commission will be charged to ATM. After one year the commission will be renegotiated based on the amount of transactions. The project to install a contactless card reader on the turnstiles serves the purpose of further limiting the amount of people who do not purchase a ticket.

ATM is growing

Turnstiles for contactless payment in the metro of Milan

According to the latest data, in 2017, 220 thousand fines have been issued, 12% more than in 2016, and even in the first trimester of 2018, the amount has been further growing. Together with the begininning of the experimental phase of the credit card to travel on the metro, the City of Milan renewed its contract with ATM.

Unfortunately, this new service will not be active on the bus/tram lines, as it will be necessary to wait for the new 5G network to replace 4G connection. The installations of card readers on metro turnstiles have begun last May 14th: the service should be active and completely functional by the end of June.

This new technology will allow to have a good degree of certainty that those who use ATM services will pay for their tickets to travel on the various metro and railway lines that the company operates.

The advantages of this new technology

I vantaggi principali saranno:

  • Having more security personnel (hence more job opportunities) in all stations;
  • Allow a further technological development of the firm;
  • Allow everyone to travel on metro lines, and therefore have a higher number of passengers;
  • More possibilities for the development of more sustainable means of transport (less gasoline, less PM10, less CO2);
  • Increment of possible new metro stations on the various lines, with the advantage of being able to reach certain areas more easily.

Milan like London, Chicago, and Singapore

Other than Milan, other cities such as London, Chicago, and Singapore have recently installed this new technology.

  • In London, Contactless payments were activated in September 2016, accepting Visa, Amex, and MasterCard, and obtaining great results on all of metro lines. Last summer (2017), smartwatch payments were also introduced for Visa and MasterCard clients.
  • In Chicago the Contactless technology has only been implemented on Line L, allowing for Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Android Pay payments.

  • In Singapore, on the other end, the Contactless payment method has been implemented in SmartBand fitness bracelets since last March 20th, making Singapore the first among South-East Asian cities to revolutionize their transportation company.

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Contestations and the thankful environment

Regardless of the many ideas and good propositions, even the polemics weren’t missing. The QR code reader method directly from smartphones brought many inconveniences, given that often times the readers at the turnstiles do not read the barcodes well, especially on the way out of the metro, creating long lines trying to get the barcode to be read. This is why many people continue to prefer the traditional yet safe ticket, that gives no problems.

Many initiatives are being taken to improve mobility and environment, this is why we talk about the ATM revolution. In fact, a greater investment in trams and electric buses has been planned, as well as a larger number of kilometers of service, more ticket checks, and the larger and larger implementation of technology for the purchase of tickets, combined with an incremented respect for the environment thanks to a smaller usage of gasoline.

  

 

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