Rambus Ecebs Bringing the Ticketing Value via HCE Wallet and App

Rambus Ecebs announced on the January 23, 2017 the release of their first Host Card Emulation (HCE) mobile ticketing platform comprising of a mobile wallet and app that, in their words, could change the world of contactless ticketing.

The first rollout will be delivered by Nevis Technologies, a joint venture company formed by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) and Rambus Ecebs.  The pilot is scheduled to take place later in 2017 in Glasgow, UK, initially targeting usage on the SPT-operated subway.

This ABI Insight will shed some light on the future importance of HCE within the ticketing market and how, if implemented correctly, it can provide a platform where transportation authorities can extend their reach, offer added value services, and ultimately open up new revenue streams. 

The Rambus Ecebs HCE ticketing platform combines the HCE Ticket Wallet Service with a ticketing app. The former is used to digitize cards securely with the latter enabling real-time, on-demand ticket downloads and management, thus making the need for queuing and paper redundant.

SPT, the largest regional transportation authority in Scotland stated, “This pilot program with Rambus Ecebs and the Nevis team helps us build on our value proposition to make travel more convenient, secure and efficient for our system.”

The statement by SPT demonstrates that the digitization of ticketing alone is just one aspect of mobile ticketing; but equally SPT has a firm eye on improving and extending its value proposition.

Mobile is without doubt a convenient solution and offering a mobile ticketing alternative to a traditional smart card certainly opens up additional payment choice.

With that said, enabling a simple solution that virtualizes tickets alone is not enough. On top of this is the need to provide a compelling reason for a user to choose a mobile platform over a traditional card solution that they have become accustomed and familiar. In addition, mobile platforms need to provide the transportation authorities an enabler to open up new value propositions to justify the required investment. For this reason, vendors offering mobile ticketing solutions need to think bigger than simply transferring the physical to the digital. Moreover, development strategies need to focus on the enablement of a compelling offer that combines the convenience of mobile with added value, molding services around the new business model opportunity, and ultimately justifying by a clear business case/ROI.

This is where Rambus Ecebs app comes into play. In a well thought out strategy, Rambus Ecebs is offering a platform where authorities can gather valuable data points and analytics on its customers, bringing the authority closer to its end users. In turn, this will help authorities optimize and provide targeted added value via the launch of new innovative services, as well as a platform where new allegiances and partnerships can be enabled to help authorities flesh out future strategies and open up new revenue opportunities and business models via campaigns, marketing, and loyalty. Mobile opens up new opportunities that previously remained out of reach, and it is here where the true value lies.

The Rambus Ecebs pilot program is just the beginning. By utilizing interoperable standards such as ITSO, the opportunity to expand well beyond SPT’s reach is vast. Its choice of HCE technology, and the fact that it offers a managed service as well as opening up its API to other third-party app developers points towards a significant global expansion strategy via a technology that significantly reduces go-to-market barriers and offers broader scalability thanks to HCE’s more flexible nature.

It has a compelling and flexible solution that has both transportation authority and end user in mind and the added-value focus will prove a key and defining factor in opening up future opportunities with other transportation authorities.