Visa: payment solutions can aid smart city development

Global payment solutions giant Visa has published a report on the impact that digital commerce could have on the smart cities of the future.

The report assesses trends and challenges in public transportation and parking as urban areas grow rapidly in population size. Visa partnered with Stanford University to produce The Future of Transportation: Mobility in the Age of the Megacity, which studied more than 19,000 commuters across 19 countries.

This is one of the largest ever global transportation studies and has looked at the important role of the likes of digital payment solutions in sustainable city growth. The report has allowed Visa to build on its experience working with transit operators, automotive companies and technology startups.

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It argues that digital payments will be instrumental in transport within the smart cities of the future, in terms of contactless public transport payments, paying for ride hailing, parking, to rental bikes and scooters.

Mike Lemberger, SVP Product Solutions Europe at Visa, said: “The future success of our cities is intertwined with – and reliant on – the future of transportation and mobility. Visa and our partners have an important role to play, both in streamlining the payment experience for millions of commuters around the globe, and supporting public transportation authorities in their quest to build sustainable and convenient transportation solutions that improve the lives of the people who use it.”

Herman Donner, PhD and Postdoctoral Researcher at Stanford, said that it is important for mobility providers, technology companies, infrastructure owners and public transport agencies to work together in developing solutions for smart city transportation.

“We think that many of these small, incremental changes have the potential to make a significant difference in people’s daily travel, whether it’s to help find parking, get the best price to refuel their car, or plan their journey on public transportation,” he said.