Contactless Smart Cards, RFID, Payment, Transit and Security

TWIC IDs on the way, but TSA stops short of giving the nod to contactless readers

Monday, September 25, 2006

International Biometric Association is meeting with the Transportation Security Administration in the hopes of convincing the federal agency to include contactless readers as part of its new credentialing and security system for ports and maritime workers.

Smart cards containing the contactless technology were tested during a yearlong “Prototype Phase” of the Transportation Worker Identification Credentials (TWIC) initiative. IBIA believes that the test was a success and proved that the contactless reader was the right way to go. If TSA specifies a new reader approach that wasn’t tested, such as using contact readers, then the reader portion of prototype test would have been an effort that International Biometric Industry Association Chairman Walter Hamilton calls a waste of time, money, and resources.

There are 914 words in the rest of this article …

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Global Industry Analysts Inc. released a report forecasting the outlook on the global smart card market to reach 10.9 billion units by 2015.

GIA credits the growth driven largely by major initiatives in the financial, government and security sectors, with the telecom sector at the way ahead of the pack as the largest end-user. Increasing usage of contactless technology, newer applications and mandatory EMV migration across countries are also major drivers boosting the global market for smart cards.

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As some may recall back in June 2010, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) of New York launched tap-and-go contactless payments for commuters to enter select subway stations and participating bus lines using MasterCard PayPass-enabled terminals. Well, the results are in.

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The Peninsula Taxi Association (PTA) in South Africa has launched a electronic fare collection system, granting commuters cashless fare and discounts when using the newly developed contactless-enabled transit card, according to The Cape Times.

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UK-regional bus group Bluestar has launched a new transit card for discounted weekly and monthly travel on its network, according to Southern Daily Echo.

The new card enables cashless fare for any service on the Bluestar Network in Southampton, Eastleigh and Winchester. It also supports travel on Wilts & Dorset buses and Southern Vectis on the Isle of Wight, both of which are owned and operated by Go-Ahead Group.

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Stevenson High School, Lincolnshire, Ill., is piloting a program that can track students on school buses. The goal is to increase safety while determining more efficient bus routes. The school rolled out the program in late January that provides each student with a card that the student uses as he enters or exits a school bus.

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Codebench Inc. and S2 Security Corp. announced that Codebench’s PIVCheck Plus software suite, a card validation, authentication, and registration solution for HSPD-12 compliance, now integrates with the S2 NetBox Extreme and Enterprise systems from S2 Security Corporation.

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