Modernizing the American transit experience: how Indra Group USA is building the future of urban mobility today
How account-based ticketing, interoperable fare systems and AI-ready mobility platforms are modernizing passenger experiences.
3 min. reading time
By Jaime García Rubí, Commercial Director Mobility North America, Indra Group USA
Across North American transit agencies and municipal transportation departments, a clear shift is underway. The conversations dominating industry gatherings like the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) conferences are no longer focused strictly on distant, theoretical visions for future mobility. Instead, today’s transit leaders are seeking scalable transit technology solutions that can be deployed today, including contactless fare collection, account-based ticketing (ABT), interoperable payment systems and AI-ready mobility platforms.
At Indra Group USA, our vision for connected, accessible and seamless mobility has moved beyond concepts and blueprints. Today, Indra Group USA delivers ticketing, fare collection, transit management and mobility software solutions that are already operating across major transportation networks.
Delivering next-generation ticketing to U.S. transit hubs
Fare collection and ticketing systems are among the most important passenger-facing technologies in public transportation, shaping how riders access and pay for transit services. When these systems are intuitive, accessible and frictionless, overall system trust and ridership naturally follow. To achieve this, modern transit ecosystems rely on open and interoperable architectures that support Account-Based Ticketing (ABT), EMV contactless payments, digital wallets and future mobility services.
For riders, this means a smooth, universal passenger experience featuring smartphone-style touchscreens, high-contrast displays, tactile elements, natural language-assisted audio and extensive multilingual support. For transportation authorities, these hardware and software terminals ensure long-term durability and ADA compliance while delivering the flexibility needed to evolve over time. Key implementations — such as replacing the automatic ticket vending system across the entire Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) network and modernizing terminals across 38 stations for Bi-State Development (St. Louis MetroLink) — demonstrate how AI-ready architecture and weather-resistant engineering directly enhance both daily user interactions and long-term operational performance.
To support this expanding footprint, key manufacturing, assembly and testing processes are executed at our facility in Olathe, Kansas, strengthening domestic supply chains, accelerating deployment schedules and supporting long-term system reliability.
Global back-office scale meets local operational precision
A modern transit system requires more than superior front-end terminals; it demands robust, flexible back-office software and access control architectures capable of handling millions of daily transactions with absolute reliability.
The primary benefit for transit authorities lies in unifying complex, multi-agency fare structures and multi-modal transit options into a centralized, scalable back office. This open architecture allows agencies to transition effortlessly from regional systems toward complete, nationwide fare interoperability without disrupting live fare collection services.
For passengers, the result is a unified, hassle-free journey across buses, underground subways, light rail and suburban train lines using a single, consistent payment method. This balance of global back-office scale and local precision is actively proven on major networks worldwide as highlighted at recent APTA thought-leadership events.
What does transit modernization look like today?
It means deploying accessible fare collection systems, account-based ticketing platforms, interoperable payment technologies and scalable mobility software that improve both passenger experience and operational performance.
Join us at APTA EXPO & experience the future of mobility
The modernization of American transit and highway infrastructure is not a distant vision; it is actively operating on subways, light rail lines and expressways across North America today.
By combining intuitive front-end customer terminals, AI-ready hardware, flexible account-based back-office architectures, and local manufacturing in Kansas, Indra Group USA is proud to stand hand-in-hand with transit agencies as a dedicated long-term technology partner.
Visit the Indra Group USA exhibit in booth #2820 at APTA EXPO 2026 to experience hands-on demonstrations of our accessible ticketing interfaces, explore our back-office solutions, and speak directly with our team of mobility experts about modernizing your agency's infrastructure.