Viva Wallet enters London taxi card payment solutions market
A new payment solutions provider, Viva Wallet, has entered the London taxi market offering what it claims to be a specially designed platform for Black Cabs, fully certified by regulators Transport for London (TfL).
Under the TfL mandate, which came into force in 2016 for all London based taxis, all licensed taxis must accept card and contactless payments and be fitted with a TfL approved card payment device installed in the passenger compartment. Along with the device itself, they must also be able to produce a printed receipt upon request by the passenger.
Available on a monthly subscription or one-off payment model, the Viva Wallet Black Cab Bundle features: The Viva Wallet Pocket Card Terminal, a specifically designed card terminal holder and a TfL approved Bluetooth Receipt Printer with a vehicle mount.
The Pocket Card terminal accepts over 24 payment types through contactless and Chip & PIN transactions, is small, has a full-colour screen display, comes with a 4G SIM card and a higher capacity battery. Through Bluetooth connectivity and by downloading the free Viva Wallet Terminal app, taxi drivers can accept payments and enter fare amounts, all from their mobile device.
Coming soon will also be direct taxi meter integration for automatic display of fare amount on the card terminal (software update available within November 2020).
The terminal holder can be mounted securely on all designated areas of the passenger compartment within the LEVC TX , Dynamo and TX4 vehicles, and keeps the terminal fully charged whilst on the move.
To facilitate the need for mandatory printable receipts, the Bundle includes a TfL approved Bluetooth printer. If the taxi driver already has a TfL approved printer, this will again be compatible with the Viva Wallet Terminal.
Additionally, through the Viva Wallet app, drivers can set up and opt to display their company/vehicle information on their receipts. They also have the option of sending receipts via SMS or e-mail at their passenger's request.
Installation of the Bundle will be performed by approved garages and installers.
Together with the Bundle hardware, the taxi drivers will also look to benefit from the payment solution features of the Viva Wallet Business Account.
With no contract or hidden fees, drivers will be able to make more money on fares paid through card transactions, by earning back their acceptances fees to 0%. They can achieve this by using the Viva Wallet Digital Debit Card, which can be activated within seconds, to pay for their business expenses such as their fuel and food costs.
Additionally, as next-day settlement comes as standard, they will have access to their funds quickly in their Viva Wallet Account.
Through the Viva Wallet Account Dashboard, they are provided with full visibility of their account, allowing them to manage their business on the go via the Viva Wallet app. Within the Dashboard, they can view each sales transaction, facilitate refunds or charge cancellation in real-time. Furthermore, they can export comprehensive analytic data reports to Excel or CSV files, to make the most of their business and ease accounting.
The solution also supports the needs of a multi-operator set-up within the taxi fleet sector, whereby Fleet Owners can create more than one sub-account within their main account for each of their drivers and have full visibility via the Account Dashboard.
