Gemalto has announced a partnership with RioCard, Rio de Janeiro's public transportation ticketing operator, to implement contactless transport ticket wristbands, according to a press release.

When fully implemented, the product is intended to simplify secure payments and improve convenience, ensuring smoother travel in any mode of transportation (bus, ferry, subway and train) for more than 10 million residents and visitors to Brazil's second largest city.   

Gemalto is supplying RioCard with its waterproof Celego Contactless MiniTag wristband and its Celego Contactless MiniTag Sticker, both embedded with a contactless chip from Gemalto and certified by Visa and Mastercard, enabling all the secure functionalities of traditional contactless EMV cards. Contactless transit cards were first adopted by RioCard in Rio de Janeiro in 2003 and they are now a part of daily life for millions of users.

"The new RioCard wristbands support our goal to create a more convenient and secure travel experience for all residents and visitors to Rio de Janeiro," said Cassiano Rusycki, CEO of RioCard. "The success of recent contactless projects with Gemalto, like the Lille project in France and Visa’s wearable wristband in Brazil have motivated this solution which builds a technological legacy enabling streamlined transportation and improved peace of mind for travelers."