National transport group CIÉ has signed a deal with Trintech to automate the processing of tickets purchased using a debit or credit card at vending machines in dart and commuter railway stations or over the internet.
Under the deal Iarnród Éireann and Bus Éireann will deploy Trintech’s PayWare Merchant to handle the high volumes of card transactions associated with seat reservations at ticket vending machines, booking offices, call centres and online.
Bus Éireann will also integrate and roll out Trintech’s Smart 5000 PINPad, a hybrid card reader that accepts both chip cards and magnetic swipe cards.
As part of the Irish Government’s plan to maximise the use of public transport, CIÉ and its companies have been involved in a major investment program funded from the National Development Plan as well as EU co-funding. Part of this investment program includes the selection and roll out of unattended EMV (American Express, MasterCard and Visa) chip and PIN ready ticket vending machines.
The new system will enable passengers to conduct secure chip and PIN transactions at each unattended terminal. CIÉ are amongst the first to prepare for chip and PIN in Ireland and will switch on the chip and PIN facility when the roll out schedule is complete.
“Following a detailed review of available online credit card authorisation applications, the CIÉ Group selected Trintech’s PayWare as the solution that best matched its business requirements and could link directly to Bank of Ireland,” said Frank Gray at CIÉ. “We were keen to work with an organisation that had extensive experience in the Chip and PIN sector.”
By John Kennedy