The number of passengers able to use the NFC transit ticketing system which went live in Paris in September is to be increased in 2020-21 with the addition of support for host card emulation (HCE).

Currently, the NFC mobile ticketing service is restricted to owners of Samsung and Orange Android NFC phone owners.

That’s because it uses the SIM in Orange/Sosh phones and the secure element built in to certain Samsung phones to store passengers’ Navigo tickets and passes, enabling users to continue to access their ticket even if their mobile’s battery is flat.

For the next stage of the project, availability will be significantly increased via the addition of a cloud-based HCE solution that will enable all Android NFC phone users to use their mobile phone as a replacement for physical tickets and passes.

Samsung Pay is also to be added to Île-de-France Mobilités’ Vianavigo app during this phase, along with a post-paid monthly billing option.

The new Navigo Liberté+ service, which is currently undergoing testing, is designed to let passengers “travel freely across the transportation network and pay the following month based on the journeys they actually made,” solution providers Conduent and Worldline say.

“Île-de-France Mobilités wants to make life easier for the millions of Paris region residents and tourists who use mass transit in the Île-de-France by introducing the very latest ticketing solutions,” says Laurent Probst, CEO of Île-de-France Mobilités.

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