MasterCard has announced a global partnership with Masabi, a mobile ticketing solutions provider whose JustRide platform allows commuters to buy and display tickets via their smartphones.

As part of the deal, Masabi will integrate MasterCard’s secure digital payment service MasterPass into JustRide, enabling consumers to pay for their ticket with a simple touch.

The first city to benefit from the agreement will be Athens, where the JustRide system will be available to one million daily commuters.

JustRide, a cloud-based mobile ticketing and fare collection system, also includes validation software allowing tickets to be scanned using smartphones, or via gates or stand-alone validation units. As a result, Transport for Athens expects to reduce its cost for handling cash and paper ticket printing.

“By combining our expertise, MasterCard and Masabi are removing the friction that slows down how people move around, while also improving quality of life in cities and helping authorities to better manage population growth and urban development,” said Hany Fam, MasterCard’s president of enterprise partnerships.

Masabi is already active in cities including New York and London and has been running mobile ticketing for UK Rail since 2007.

Within a year of rolling out in Boston, Masabi’s m-ticketing technology was serving about 25 per cent of commuters, Josh Robin, VP for North America at Masabi noted at the GSMA Mobile 360 North America conference last year.

He also said that bringing mobile technology to public transport is the way to “get in the front door to city life.”