Introduction

ATM – Azienda Trasporti Milanesi is wholly owned by the Municipality of Milan and manages the entire system of metro lines, trams, trolleybuses and buses, bike sharing, park-and-ride facilities, parking and access to restricted traffic zones in the Lombardy capital. Every year, the company transports more than 675 million people and manages around 3 million season tickets.

Challenges and reasons for implementing a digital solution

In the current context, characterised by the increasing digitalization of services and a demand that is increasingly oriented towards fast, secure and sustainable solutions, ATM Milan also needed to review its traditional processes, including the issuance of season tickets. Dematerialising season tickets, moving from paper to digital, allows users to purchase and renew the tickets in a simple and immediate way. For the company, this translates into greater efficiency and cost reduction, but it also aligns with the expectations of an increasingly connected and environmentally conscious user base.

What was ATM Milano’s request?

The customer wanted to dematerialise the process of issuing or renewing public transport season tickets at the five ATM Points currently installed.
The subscription process was completely manual from the user’s point of view. Users would go to an ATM subscription point, request a form at the counter, fill it in and sign it by hand. They would then hand the form back to the counter, where it would be scanned by an operator using OCR technology and recorded in the dedicated application.

This process involved several critical issues:

• high manual activity, with a consequent risk of errors in writing and OCR reading of paper forms;
• longer completion times, which generated queues at the counters;
• the need to physically manage and store paper forms.

The new process consists of two main stages, both of which take place at the ATM Point, quickly and easily and without an operator:

• Identification of the person wishing to subscribe, with acquisition of identity document and photograph: remote recognition can be done via SPID, CIE or video selfie.
• Subscription signing, with electronic signature. The ATM system prepares the points on the application form where the user must sign electronically, with a graphometric signature on a tablet.

Why Namirial?

To improve its subscription management workflow, ATM chose Namirial because we are a European-recognised Qualified Trust Service Provider specialising in digitalization, electronic signature, digital identification and compliant storage solutions. Our offering is particularly suited to the needs of public transport companies looking to modernise and simplify their processes.

Here are the main advantages that Namirial’s solutions have offered ATM Milano:

• Secure digital identification: thanks to its onboarding and identity verification solutions, Namirial allows ATM to manage the issuance of subscriptions completely remotely, reducing the risk of fraud and simplifying access for users.
• Advanced and qualified electronic signature: allows contracts and documents to be signed in a legally valid manner, eliminating the need for paper media and ensuring full regulatory compliance (eIDAS, GDPR). 
• Compliant digital storage: all documents relating to season tickets can be stored securely and in compliance with Italian and European regulations, ensuring integrity and traceability over time. 
• Integration with existing systems: Namirial solutions are scalable and easily integrated with IT platforms already in use at ATM, reducing implementation time and costs.
• Experience in the public sector: Namirial already collaborates with numerous public administrations, bringing specific expertise in the management of complex digital processes and the simplification of services for citizens.