São Paulo to Introduce Payment With NFC Cards and Cell Phones in Buses

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Since September, buses in the city of São Paulo have been testing a new validator that accepts payment via NFC (Near Field Communication): this includes credit and debit cards and digital wallets such as Samsung Pay, Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Mastercard and Visa say that the project will be expanded in 2020 for all lines in the city of São Paulo, and may bring an important new feature: travel with integration, just as in the Single Ticket.

Paulo Frossard, Mastercard’s executive for the Southern Cone, told media-outlet Exame: “Everything worked out well in the tests, and the initiative is expected to be taken to all buses by 2020”. Folha confirmed this information with Visa.

Cell phones or NFC cards allow the payment of R$4.30 (US$1.05) by approach: just place it on the validator, with no need to enter a password. It is particularly useful for the two million foreign tourists visiting São Paulo each year, as using cards from other countries is allowed.

Currently, contactless payment is available on approximately 200 buses on 12 lines in São Paulo. As for security, NFC cards are limited to R$50 payments without a password, no more than 5 times a day; and on cell phones, operations must be confirmed using biometrics.

São Paulo may introduce tariff integration in NFC payments.

For the time being, there is a limitation on payment via NFC: there is no integrated service tariff. In other words, if an additional bus is taken, a further R$4.30 will have to be paid. The single ticket now in effect allows the payment of a fare for up to four trips within three hours (two trips in the case of a transport voucher).

Percival Jatobá, vice president of products of Visa, explains that integration in NFC payment is possible, in addition to free fares for the elderly and student discounts.

The model used in London, United Kingdom, is an example. Bus travel costs £1.50 with integration within an hour, but TfL (Transport for London) places a daily charge limit: no more than £4.50 will be spent per day, even when paying with a contactless card. (Amounts differ for subway and train.)

Something similar can be done in Brazil: Percival mentions the possibility of “charging for trips at the end of the day or for a given period and applying discounts according to the total number of trips taken”.