NEORide, a consortium of seven Ohio transit agencies, and Masabi launched the free EZfare app, a cashless mobile ticketing and fare payment solution that will make using public transit easier than ever before. Once downloaded, transit riders can use the app to pay fares or purchase tickets for any of the seven participating transit systems. The app is available from both the App Store and Google Play by searching for “EZfare”. Tickets are also available within Transit, North America’s leading real-time journey planning app.
Laketran, Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority, (TARTA) and Portage Area Regional Transit Authority (PARTA) riders can use EZfare today. NEORide’s four other partner agencies, the Stark Area Regional Transit Authority (SARTA), Metro RTA, Medina County Public Transit (MCPT) and the Western Reserve Transit Authority (WRTA) will bring the system online by October 2019. NEORide officials plan to add additional transit agencies to deploy EZfare later this year.
EZfare tickets will also be available to purchase from within Transit, the leading real-time journey planning app. Transit is integrating the EZfare platform via Masabi’s Justride SDK, enabling transit ticketing from within Transit’s existing application. This ground-breaking innovation will help open up ticketing across the region, giving people the freedom and flexibility to open a single app to plan a trip, get real-time information, and purchase a ticket in just a few taps.
According to NEORide Board Chair and Laketran CEO Ben Capelle, EZfare offers a convenient, seamless experience that will please existing riders and attract new ones. “People will be able to buy tickets any time, anywhere,” he said. “They won’t need cash, they won’t have to stand in line at transit stations to pay fares or obtain transfers. Once you have EZfare, your smartphone or tablet becomes your ticket to ride anywhere participating agencies go. We’re proud of the work we did with Masabi to make our vision of a totally integrated fare and ticketing platform a reality.”
Masabi CEO Brian Zanghi, shares Mr. Capelle’s enthusiasm for the first-of-its-kind regional project. “Masabi’s SaaS approach to fare collection is bringing cutting edge innovation to agencies of all sizes,” he said. “We’re excited about the launch of this ground-breaking regional project and pleased to bring the benefits of cashless technology to riders of multiple agencies in a single solution accessible via the EZfare app and Transit.”