Technology Record - Issue 22: Autumn 2021

173 PUB L I C S E C TOR V I EWPO I NT For the city, by the city SHYAM S UNDE R : PAY I Q A unified ticketing and payments platform should help urban leaders address the challenges of an uncertain future T he pandemic has led to changes of mind- set impacting several mobility-focused start-ups, in particular, in relation to their acquisitions by automotive businesses. The chip shortage has created further difficulties, too. The result is multiple new approaches, with global enterprises such as Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler all changing their mobility investments in recent months. In a very real sense, the pandemic has got these firms at a crossroads in terms of what these acquisitions mean for the present and future. With the rise in working from home, many have started to wonder where the next disruption in automotive will come from. In the public transportation space, we are still focused on cities, with and without lockdown rules, and how people’s movements need to be managed: what is essential for commuters and riders, and the best collaborations between pub- lic transport organisations. We have seen public and private operators work together to help pas- sengers travel their whole journey in a unified way, across different modes of transport. These options are still in trial stages and early integra- tions have not yet succeeded in attracting the necessary volume of riders and commuters. There is no one solution that fits all. The entire mobility market is led by independent players in micro-mobility, shared mobility or car-sharing platforms. However, none have moderated a ‘for the city, by the city’ initiative. PayiQ has been playing a pivotal role in ‘for the city, by the city’ with public transport authori- ties. Our ticketing and payments infrastructure platform has delivered digitisation initiatives for operators, giving them an integrated ecosys- tem to orchestrate door-to-door options across districts and cities that require economical options. In the coming months PayiQ is gear- ing up to deliver several integration ecosystem programmes with its open license agreement partners in Russia and Central Asia. Shyam Sunder is vice president of global sales at PayiQ