Description
Nowadays it is possible to pay your ride by credit card on board the whole urban and suburban public transport fleet in Parma.
No cash, no paper ticket, 100% contactless.
Register your credit card at portale.tep.pr.it to check charges and journeys made.
What fare do I pay on board the bus?
The contactless system applies the fares in effect:
• € 1,60 euro for one or more rides to be completed within 80 minutes.
• the daily fare (€ 4,80) for 3 ore more rides validated more than 80 minutes apart within the same date;
• the suburban fares when the passengers press TICKETS before tapping the credit card against the reader
Can I pay rides outside the urban area of Parma?
Yes, you can pay every suburban fare on board the bus.
You just have to press TICKETS and select the number of zones you wish to travel.
If you don’t know how many zones you have to travel, press HELP and type in your destination. The right fare will be applied.
How does it work?
How can I pay by credit card?
If you are travelling within the urban area, just tap your credit/debit card against the reader as soon as you are on board.
If you are travelling outside the city centre of Parma (or from the city centre to a destination outside the urban area), press TICKETS and tap your payment card against the reader, then select the number of zones you wish to travel.
Do I have to tap the card also when I get off the bus?
No.
Do I have to register my payment card to travel?
No, it’s not necessary to register your card before travelling. However we would suggest you to register your payment card at portale.tep.pr.it (available only in Italian) tho chek your travels and payments.
Can I use my payment card to pay for someone else’s ride, in addition to mine?
No. Any card can pay only for a single passenger’s ride at a time. If you need to purchase tickets for 2 people, use different cards or different devices (the same card can be can be virtualised on different devices, e.g. smartphones or smartwatches). The virtualised card has a different number to the physical card, so you can pay for 2 tickets at the same time by validating once with the physical card and immediately afterwards with the smartphone.
Will I pay the same price as ordinary (paper) tickets or a cheaper fare?
Will I pay commissions on the purchase?
No, there’s no commission or surcharge. S
What advantages do I have when I pay contactless?
You may decide to board even if you have not had time to purchase a ticket. To complete the purchase, you won’t need to interact with other people, handle money or have coins. Simply tap your credit card on the validator to travel.
Charges
Is it normal to receive a charge on a day when I have not made any trips?
Yes! The amounts are charged from the day after the trip onwards, so that the system can calculate the cheapest rate at the end of the day.
When is travel payment charged?
The ticket is charges within 3 working days from the date of travel.
Where can I read the charges?
You can register your card at portale.tep.pr.it to read charges.
Otherwise you can read your charges on your bank statement, recorded with the descriptiom “TEP SPA POS ETHERNET”.
Pre-authorisation
I received a sms from my bank saying that a 5 or 7 euro transaction was authorised. Why?
This is a pre-authorisation provided for by some credit card circuits. When you tap your card, your bank or card operator may send you a pre-authorisation message or a message that a payment has been made but has not been accounted for.
These sms only serve the bank to verify the card’s ability to pay the travel fare and do NOT indicate an ACTUALLY PAID AMOUNT. At the end of the day, the system calculates the correct fare based on the number of trips actually made and debits the amount within 2 or 3 working days.
When the fare for trips made is charged, the pre-authorisation will be deleted from the transactions recorded on the current account.
Black list
When I tap my payment card, the display shows “BLACK LIST”
A credit card is blacklisted when a previous trip could not be charged correctly or when a pre-authorisation request is rejected due to insufficient funds or reaching the maximum spending limit in the current month.
The blacklist is only related to TEP’s on-board bus ticket payment system. This means that the credit card can still continue to pay for purchases at other shops.
The card is removed from the blacklist and becomes usable again for the purchase of bus tickets when the payment for the trip is successful. After 28 days without this having happened, the card will no longer be valid for transactions on board TEP buses.
WARNING: when BLACK LIST appears on the display, it means that you have not paid the fare for the journey you are making. Take care to stamp a valid ticket correctly (a ticket purchased at the ticket office, or download TEP’s TESEO app to purchase a new ticket). Otherwise you are travelling without a ticket and may incur a penalty.
Cards and devices that can be used on board
Which payment cards can be used contactless on board to pay the ride?
You can always use:
• Mastercard and VISA contactless credit cards
• Maestro contactless cards (those you can use for withdrawing money at ATM machines)
• Mastercard and VISA contactless rechargeable cards
• VPay e VISA Electron debit cards
VISA Postepay rechargeable cards can’t be used on board.
How do I know if my card is contactless?
All contactless cards display this symbol:
Why my card doesn’t work?
• because the card does not belong to one of the authorised circuits
• because the card is insolvent (the current account has an insufficient balance or is blocked)
• because the card has expired
• because the card belongs to one of the authorized circuitsbut it’s not contactless
If one of these cases occurs, we suggest you contact your bank.
Virtualised cards
Is it possible to pay with Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and other banking services through smartphones, watches or other devices?
Yes, you can pay through all the devices that carry a digitalised card belonging to one of the authorized circuits, provided that you use the same device for each ride made within the validity period of the ticket.
Can I register my virtualised card on the website portale.tep.pr.it?
No, it’s not possible at the moment.
How can I check charges for tickets I have payed through a virtualised card (Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, etc.)?
It’s not possible to check these payments through TEP website (only through the bank statement).
Where can I pay contactless?
Which rides can I pay contactless?
You can pay both urban e suburban rides.
How long does it last a ride payed on board?
Validity is the same whether the ticket is paid on board o purchased off board or by the TESEO app.
Checks and fines
What must I do when an inspector asks me for my ticket?
Simply tell the ticket inspector the last four digits of your credit card.
When am I at risk of being fined?
When the inspectors verifies that you are travelling beyond the time validity of the fare, from the first validation of the current journey (as it happens also with the paper tickets).
How does the inspector know if I have payed the ticket?
With his device, the inspector can check the line where you made the first validation and therefore knows whether or not you are travelling within the time validity provided by that fare.
I can I be sure that nobody violates the data confidentiality of my credit card when it’s checked?
The controllers’ palmtops keep the card data anonymous. The inspectors has no need to hold your card in their hands to check it. They only need to know the last 4 numbers on your card.
Safety
Is there a risk of the card being cloned?
No. Our validators are certified by the banks that enable their cards. The service available on board TEP buses meets the security standards required for any contactless payment operation.
How can I be sure that the data of my card remain private and safe when I purchase tickes on board?
TEP never knows the card or the cardholder’s data. The system uses encrypted data that do not allow the user to be identified.
How does the POS work?
Why do you use separate readers for payment cards and passes?
To avoid interference, as there is a habit of tapping wallets or purses on the pass reader without taking it out the card. By keeping the readers separate, there is no risk of swiping both the payment card and the Mi Muovo card.
Each reader reads only and only the device for which it is enabled.
Suggestion
If you carry several contactless cards, always take the one you wish to use to pay your journey out of your wallet or purse. If the reader detects several contactless cards, the credit is not deducted and the ticket is not purchased.