Samsung and Île-de-France Mobilités have been working together to dematerialize public transport tickets and allow people to validate digital tickets using their smartwatches. These efforts to reduce waste by lowering the use of magnetic tickets are now paying off.
Samsung and Île-de-France Mobilités have announced that the smartwatch-based ticket validation system is now being deployed across the entire transport network in Île-de-France.
This widespread deployment follows a pilot run from 2023. Last November, Île-de-France Mobilités and Samsung invited roughly 10,000 Galaxy Watch 4, Watch 5, and Watch 6 users to try out the new ticket validation system.
The feedback was very positive
Samsung says Île-de-France Mobilités received very positive feedback during the experimental phase of the smartwatch-based ticketing system. Testers were happy with the simplicity of the service and the speed and time savings they benefited from using their Galaxy Watches to validate tickets.
Users in France have been able to validate their transport tickets with their phones and Samsung Pay since 2019. Over the past half a decade, more than one million Samsung phones have been used for the transport validation process across Île-de-France.
However, starting today, Île-de-France Mobilités users can buy their tickets on their smartphones using Samsung Pay and validate them with a flick of the wrist, as long as they are wearing the Galaxy Watch 4, Watch 5, or Watch 6.
Samsung says the system is compatible with the Watch 4 and up, so it's fair to assume that the upcoming Galaxy Watch 7 will also be supported.
