Customer story — Madison

From Paper Tickets to Digital Fares

Madison Metro moved away from magnetic stripe tickets and worked to limit the amount of cash used on its new BRT route, and now sees 75% of fares paid digitally.

Agency snapshot

  • 12.3M (2025) Annual Ridership
  • 194 buses Vehicles
  • Madison, WI Location

The challenge

Madison Metro Transit was running on a magnetic stripe pass and paper ticket system and needed to modernize to meet rider expectations, particularly among its University of Wisconsin-Madison student population of roughly 60,000. The agency was also preparing to launch a new modern Bus Rapid Transit network with 35 stations, and wanted the BRT system to reduce cash onboard at launch.

Solutions deployed

The solution

Masabi delivered an Account-Based Ticketing platform for Madison Metro, with a new agency branded app and smartcards to greatly reduce the use of cash on its newly launched BRT route on day one. Thanks to integration with Metro’s TVM vendor, cash paying riders can load value onto their app or smartcard at BRT stations. Launching Open Payments meant Metro avoided expanding its TVM footprint further. Public schools, college and university students and employer partners are issued Partner Passes on smart cards. Today, cash and Masabi’s Justride system are the only ways to pay.

Partnership timeline

  1. SEPT 2024

    ABT launched

  2. JUNE 2025

    Open Payments launched

Going from paper tickets to account-based ticketing let us give everyone a way to pay that fits how they actually travel, tapping a bank card, using the app, or loading cash onto a smartcard at a station, and it took the friction out of getting on the bus. That matters especially for visitors and when trying to attract new riders. Boarding digitally removes the barrier of trying to figure out how to buy a fare while riding transit in Madison. That’s what modernization really means: not just newer technology, but a system that keeps up with the riders we serve.