Masabi and Japanese Partner Jorudan Continue Mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) Expansion with the Launch of In-app Mobile Ticketing in Okayama Prefecture
Daily bus passes now available in Jorudan’s trip planning apps for journeys between Kojima, Shimotsui and Washuzan
London, UK and Tokyo, Japan 12 November 2020 Masabi, the company bringing Fare Payments as-a-Service to public transit and Jorudan, Japan’s leading trip planning service, today announced that they have launched in-app mobile ticketing for Shimotsui Dentetsu in the Okayama Prefecture, focused on helping locals and visitors travel around the area. Passengers can now purchase Shimotsui Loop Bus Tokohai 1-day tickets for bus travel between Kojima, Shimotsui, and Washuzan via the Japan Transit Planner and Norikae Annai apps, available in both English and Japanese, helping place public transport at the centre of the MaaS movement in and around the Okayama Prefecture.
The service is operated by Shimotsui Dentetsu and circulates in the Kojima, Shimotsui, and Washuzan areas, providing a popular and well-served commuting, hospital, shopping, and sightseeing route.
This is the latest Japanese launch following on from the partnership signed between Jorudan and Masabi in 2019, and takes the total number of deployments across the country to 13. Jorudan has integrated the Justride mobile ticketing SDK into its market-leading MaaS apps, meaning once an operator signs up to the service, tickets can be made available in the Jorudan’s Japan Transit Planner and Norikae Annai applications.
“Since the onset of COVID-19, the progress we have been making in our partnership with Jorudan has become even more critical, and we have been very happy with the results of our alliance in the Japanese market so far,” said Brian Zanghi, CEO of Masabi. “Deployments like this link communities safely and conveniently and lay the foundations for wider national projects to follow. We are delighted to be launching this service to help locals and visitors alike travel around Okayama.”
“Our work with Masabi is concentrated on creating an easy, convenient and safe travel environment, whether you use these services every day or are just visiting Japan,” said Toshikazu Sato, CEO of Jorudan. “We are enabling people not only to plan their journeys, but also to buy their transport ticket and safely navigate the local area without the need to interact with anything but their smartphone device. We are delighted with the progress our partnership with Masabi has made so far and are excited to deliver this technology to more areas across Japan.”
Jorudan’s Japan Transit Planner and Norikae Annai journey-planning apps are available to download from Google Play and the App Store.
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About Masabi: Masabi is bringing Fare Payments-as-a-Service, a new and better way of delivering fare payments, to public transport authorities and operators of all sizes around the globe. This enables operators to receive the latest fare payment innovations quickly, using a platform which is constantly updating and adding new features. Not only does this improve the journey experience for passengers, but it helps operators keep up with the pace of technology change, while reducing the total cost of fare collection. With over 80 operators of all sizes across 11 countries signed up, Masabi’s Justride is the world’s leading fare payments platform. Masabi has offices in New York, Denver, London, and Cluj, and investors include Mastercard, Shell, and Keolis. For more information, visit www.masabi.com.
About Jorudan: Jorudan, founded in December 1979, aims to become the “number one travel tech company” by providing a broad selection of products from journey planning based software, mobile content, travel agency services and gaming. Jorudan’s core service, the Norikae Annai (Transit Route Search) app, has more than 35 million downloads and supports countless passengers with public transportation. In July 2018, Jorudan established J MaaS to seek participation from companies and organisations interested in joining their transit service platform.
