Invisible Tickets to be given a second life?
An innovative solution developed by ING that allows commuters to pay for the cost of travel using their mobile phone, could be given a second life.
One of the co-founders of Invisible Tickets ING’s Andrei Constantinescu pictured in 2019.
After ING sold the technology earlier this year to Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) part of India’s largest multi-national company, TCS announced today that it would be taking the Invisible Tickets solution to the next level by introducing it to railway and public transport operators around the globe.
The move, TCS said, could transform the commuting experience.
The Invisible Tickets solution automatically detects user journeys in real time with mobile sensors and GPS, and on arrival at the destination, calculates the cost of the end-to-end journey and debits the amount from the user’s designated account.
It uses technology to detect if the user switches to other modes of transport during the journey, bringing different modes of transportation under a unified mobility platform to provide a seamless and frictionless experience to commuters.
Success story
ING’s Global Head of Strategy & Innovation Jeroen Plag said after spinning out Stemly, Pyctor, SparQ and Loan Optics from ING, Invisible Tickets has been another innovation success story for ING.
“TCS is the perfect partner to bring Invisible Tickets to market and to get it implemented to railways and public transport operators worldwide. It makes travel hassle-free and improves customer experience,” said Jeroen.
TCS’s Hemakiran Gupta said Invisible Tickets is a great example of the magical alchemy that can happen when two like-minded organisations and long-standing partners get together to innovate.
“We are excited to take this innovative solution, built in partnership with ING, to other markets and deliver the same frictionless experience to commuters across the world,” he said.
Invisible Tickets started in ING Labs in 2017 and was piloted with one of the largest public transport providers in the Benelux.
