Meet Nicolas Cousinard, our Ticketing expert!

Nicolas Cousinard, Ticketing Product Line Manager for Revenue Collection Systems at Thales, explains how technology will change the way we travel.

Where do you see the mobility industry heading in the next ten years, especially in terms of technological advances and sustainability ?

Urban mobility is undergoing a transformative shift towards less reliance on private cars and a greater emphasis the efficiency of shared or public transport systems, particularly in densely populated areas. The rise of sustainable transportation options, including electric vehicles and autonomous minibuses for on-demand services, promises to make urban mobility more appealing and flexible, catering to diverse commuter needs. Concurrently, the evolution of mobile technology has revolutionised the user experience, with mobile devices like smartphones and smartwatches offering travellers unprecedented convenience and choice for planning, booking, and paying their journeys.

What key transformations or innovations do you envisage that will shape the future of mobility?

In envisioning the future of mobility, several key transformations and innovations emerge. Firstly, the seamless integration of digital interfaces, particularly through smartphone technology, promises to revolutionise the passenger journey, offering personalised validation methods and ultimately handfree validation at gates or onboard vehicles. This approach, akin to the convenience of electronic car keys, presents particular benefits to passengers with disabilities. It is equally important to serve people who choose not to use smartphones. 

Moreover, the evolution towards cashless societies is driving the popularisation of new payment methods, such as account-to-account transactions and Central Bank Digital Currency wallets, ensuring ease and efficiency in fare payment. 

Additionally, there’s a growing emphasis on operational efficiency and resource frugality. This is driven by environmental concerns and economic constraints. Embracing these changes is imperative for the mobility sector to thrive in an increasingly digital and sustainable landscape.

How important is data security? 

Ticketing systems are data intensive and the data is sensitive. You need accurate data and operational continuity to ensure that people pay, and that they pay the right and equitable fare. Ticketing also ensures security to the public thanks to gates on platforms or in stations. Security and the use of best practices are key to ensuring business continuity. Cybersecurity is a cat and mouse game: it requires constant monitoring to retain a protection level that is current with the latest cyber threats.. Like many industries that rely on cryptography, the ticketing domain at the crossroad between mobility and payments needs to prepare in the midterm for the disruption stemming out from post-quantum cryptography.

What role do data analytics and AI play in optimising processes and improving service quality?

Transport networks produce a huge quantity of data related to mobility usage, including timestamped transactions for check-ins and check-outs, passenger localisation used in mobile ticketing or be-in/be-out mechanism . So, once this data is anonymized (this is a crucial step to facilitate public acceptance), the analytics allows the identification of travel patterns and traveller habits, and facilitate the quantification of mobility demand with the view to propose the right level of mobility services and reduce congestion. It can also help fighting transit and financial fraud to protect transport operators’ revenues. AI and analytics are great tools and can enable informed, data-driven decisions. 

Industry 4.0 is about digitising and optimising processes. Smart maintenance is an example of how equipment in the field can be monitored and ultimately, predictive maintenance helps maintain the highest level of quality of service. The next stage is Industry 5.0 which focuses on humans (workers in our case) and their interaction with machines and AI.

What challenges do free public transport initiatives face, particularly regarding operational costs and revenue distribution among operators?

Fully-subsidised public transport offerings are emerging. Even where local citizen travel is free, it does not remove the underlying costs associated with operating the urban mobility system. Multiple private companies deliver this service within an area, so a ticketing system is still required to count passengers and journeys so that operators get a fair share of revenue from operations based on travel usage. When travel is fully subsidised, the cost of operation is equally scrutinized.;

What first attracted you to the transport industry?

Coming from the mobile and payment world, I chose transport as an amazing new playground where sustainability and user experience are key values. 

People who enter the transport industry have the opportunity to make a real difference in society and to make things much more efficient – less pollution, less congestion and less time wasted travelling. Furthermore, protecting revenues makes the mobility business more sustainable. Equally important is the citizen: being able to facilitate mobility and making payments seamless is a real satisfaction.

So it’s about having a positive impact on people’s lives by making transport easier. The most rewarding part of my job is having the opportunity to shape the future. It’s about trying to define what will be next in mobility. 

What technical skills are the most valuable?

Ticketing is predominantly digital. As well as being a skill in its own right, ticketing embraces back-end, front-end and embedded software development, DevOps, cloud, data science, AI, payment and cybersecurity. All of these skills are required to bring a solution to the market. Additionally, ticketing is service-oriented: installation, operation and maintenance require versatile and rigorous people to make customers happy on a day-to-day basis.

Do you have any hobbies or interests?

I play the piano – and I am really thankful for pianos in stations. They bring people together and I have had some great encounters with other pianists.

What’s your favourite train trip?

The journey towards Aix-les-Bains and Chambéry in France. The train runs beside Lac du Bourget – it brings serenity to see the still water of the lake. I really enjoy this part of the trip!