“We share a common objective of improving the payment experience of the travelling public by providing continually enhanced ticketing solutions. ERL is proud to be the first public transport operator in South East Asia to introduce this facility for the convenience of KLIA Ekspres passengers, who hold Visa payWave cards,” Chief Executive Officer of ERL, Pn. Noormah Mohd Noor said at the launch of Visa payWave on KLIA Ekspres on Tuesday 10 August. Visa payWave provides a new way to pay for the small purchases with contactless payments and reduces the dependency on cash and the need to visit the ATM so often.

“With Visa payWave, travellers taking the KLIA Ekspres service can travel light and cash-free, moving faster than ever as they pay, wave and go for a non-stop journey between KLIA and KL Sentral,” Stuart Tomlinson, Malaysia Country Manager of Visa said.

According to the announcement, transactions can be made in a few seconds without the need for a pin number. This means that passengers can eliminate the time-consuming step of paying for a ticket at a separate machine or searching for cash. All they need to do is to tap the card in front of a dedicated gate upon boarding or exit at KL Sentral. The transaction is completed on Visa's global processing network, VisaNet.

“For our passengers – local and foreign, it’s quick, convenient and secure. As there is no need for separate tickets, this also becomes an environmentally friendly initiative, further supporting our Go Green, Go Lo-Co2 cause. Of course, our customers can also use their Visa payWave card at our Ticket Counter to buy a KLIA Ekspres ticket,” Pn. Noormah added.

“It is our hope that technological innovations such as the Visa payWave can improve the experience for our customers while allowing us to manage fare collections more efficiently.”

In conjunction with this launch, the company has kicked off a promotional campaign to encourage the use of the Visa payWave card. From now until 31 October 2010, passengers can enjoy 10% discount off the normal KLIA Ekspres fare when they use their Visa payWave card at the dedicated gates upon departure or arrival at KL Sentral.

KLIA Ekspres is the second dedicated airport rail service to introduce a contactless payment system. According to Flytoget, the dedicated train service between Oslo International Airport and the city, after they introduced the ‘Swipe and Go’ paperless ticket sales system, the company’s e-ticket distribution reached more than 50% and avoided the costs of distributing tickets via travel agents.

With Visa payWave, the proven success of the Flytoget 'Swipe and Go' and our recent coverage of troubles with the sale of airport express via the GDS we wonder if the embedding of smart technology within airport train services spells the end of 3rd party sales as we know them. What do you think? Have your say by making a comment below.

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