Non-cash payments on Kamensk-Uralsky buses

The largest transportation company of the Kamensk-Uralsky launched a system of non-cash payment on public transport. Starting from today, on city routes 201, 2, 5, 12, 14 and 15, you can pay for travel by any bank cards, as well with Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. MST Company became a technical partner of the project. For implementing this project, we used our own products: cross-platform software for POS-terminals called JoinPOS, as well as our cloud ERP system for public transport called JoinPAY «Transport».

Objective

The main objective, facing our specialists, was the introduction of a system of non-cash payments on public transport. However, in a developing such projects, it's necessary to take into account a multitude of tasks related to a current infrastructure of a transportation company. Thus, in addition to non-cash payments, we faced a number of tasks:

A fight against fraud. Collecting information about cash and non-cash transactions, as well as an analytical mechanism for identifying fraud among employees, is one of a key methods against financial fraud on transport. The implementation of our solution allows to increase a profit of transportation company up to 15%.

Automated Reporting. Sooner or later, all transportation companies face with various mistakes in reporting. In this case, a human factor is the main cause almost of all mistakes. The introduction of the automatic reports system, allows to completely eliminate a human factor, as well as reduce the time for reporting.

Accounting of tickets. It's not a secret, that efficiency of using paper travel cards is extremely low. Therefore, the transport company wanted to replace paper travel cards to plastic cards with Mifare technology, which help to increase both efficiency and raise sales. Another important task, posed to our specialists, was a full compliance with Russian legislation. Each ticket must contain all the requisites required by federal law.

Advanced Process Analytics. Our client was needed an expanded analytics, that would allow to see a structure of payments in the context of routes, POS-terminals, cash and non-cash payments, and also in a context of each employee of the company. In addition to payments, the company had a need for in-depth analysis of passenger traffic for optimization of routes.

Solution

Installation of terminals

The first stage of introducing our payment solution was the installation of payment terminals on all buses of the enterprise. Even in those moments, when equipment was not yet installed, we modeled and worked out on possible points of failure, and a main point in this case was a device autonomy. Most certified wireless terminals have a fairly modest battery capacity, which does not allow you to work a whole shift without recharging.

Therefore, we needed a solution allows us to charge a terminal right in a salon of a bus. Using power bank was not a cheapest solution, which requires the changing of the carrying case design. Using a cigarette lighter receptacle near a bus driver, extremely negatively affects the ability to pay travel by bank cards. Therefore, we decided to equip conductor's workplace with a cigarette lighter receptacle, to charge a POS-terminal right in a salon. We also took care of convenience of using the terminal. After polling employees, as well as our own tests, we developed a protective case, that takes into account all the nuances of work on transport.

Software

After choosing appropriate equipment, it's time to implement our software JoinPOS. The JoinPOS software runs on the payment terminal, providing all standard financial functions, such as: payment, cancellation, refund, reconciliation, etc. However, for this project, the JoinPOS functionality was significantly extended. We have introduced a number of specialized functions that are necessary for the proper functioning of the payment system.

Choosing an employee (conductor). Each conductor of the company, at the beginning of a shift, selects its own personal account, thereby "tying" the POS-terminal to it.

Choosing a route. After choosing his personal account, the conductor also chooses a route, where he or she will work this shift.

Ability to accept cash. One of the most important functions for accounting sold tickets and drawing up a complete picture of the transaction flow. This function is very simple for conductors, and does not require any special knowledge. To perform a cash operation, it is simply enough to press one button on the terminal, and after that the printer prints a ticket.

Faster Online - Quick payment function. This function is especially important for big passenger traffic. The bottom line of this technology is that a passenger needs to insert his card (if it is contact) into a terminal just for one second, and all further requests will be processed without a card. Using quick payment technology reduces the overall passengers service time, thereby preventing occurrence of queues.

New Tickets. In close cooperation with the company, we developed two types of tickets: for cash and cashless payments. Each type of ticket fully complies with the Russian legislation and contains all necessary information.

​Trip report. After completion of each route, controller prints a trip report from the system menu. This report is printed on a terminal and shows the number and amount of cash and non-cash transactions, as well as the series and number of the first and last tickets solded on the route.

Completely new tickets system

We fully reworked tickets system for cash and non-cash payment. Now all tickets contains all the necessary details established by the Russian legislation. Also, in addition to the main information, we have added some special information on tickets by request of the transport company. Thus, adopting a new ticket format, the company managed to completely leave obsolete coils with tickets, that were regularly ordered and printed in typographical way.

Introduction of analytics and reporting system

Our cloud service JoinPAY «Transport» is an analytical center, used to obtain and process information. Information about all routes, employees and terminals is adding to the company's page. Each object like a route, an employee or a terminal, has it's own page, where, company receiving the analytical slice of data.

Thus, a route page display the information about revenue, by year and month. The employee's page, shows its effectiveness in the context of each month. And the terminal page, displays detailed information about a terminal itself, its turnover, a number of transactions, as well as a list of cash and non-cash transactions with the ability to search for a particular transaction.

The Transaction section allows to get accurate statistics on cash and non-cash payments. Transaction reporting is performed using various conditions, such as: transaction date, terminal model, route, amount, transaction status, employee's name. After a report is compiled, all the results can be saved in .XLS (Excel). Using the accumulated statistics, the transport enterprise receives full information about transactional flow.

Also JoinPAY «Transport» monitors the current status of each POS-terminal and displays its status on the page of this terminal. If the terminal does not have a single operation per day, it will be marked as inactive, and responsible employees will be notified about it.

Conclusion

The transportation company of Kamensk-Uralsky received a complex software and hardware solution, allows to accept payments on transport, optimize company's internal processes, obtain a full amount of data on incoming payments, and also collect a big amount of analytical information.