Contactless Smart Cards, RFID, Payment, Transit and Security

NYC and Utah pioneer use of bank-issued contactless cards for transit fare collection

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Utah Ski BusMasterCard, Visa, and Amex cards replace the ticket in high-profile public transportation trials B

A new way of riding the rails and roads–or rather paying for those trips–may be in the wind at two transit agencies across the country from each other. Both involve contactless payments, but what sets these initiatives apart from contactless fare collection programs around the country and world is the use of branded payment cards (e.g. MasterCard, Visa, American Express).

Most transit agencies–or their vendor of choice–issue their own cards, process their own transactions, and handle their own settlement. But what if this effort was handled by traditional payment card issuers and processors? That is the question that transit managers in New York and Utah set out to answer.

There are 3557 words in the rest of this article …

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India transport operator Ahmedabad Janmarg Ltd. has launched a smart transit card for commuters traveling on the region’s bus system, according to ISO&Agent.

The agency began a six-month trial and August 2010 followed by a soft and silent launch in January 2012. The card is available now for a nonrefundable fee of 25 rupees ($.50 US cents) and allows commuters to travel for up to 100 minutes on one bus, for the minimum fare.

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The Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council has introduced a series of educational resources on open payments solutions in public transit systems, including a white paper, Web resources and LinkedIn group for industry professionals.

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The Jacksonville Transit Authority (JTA) experienced an overwhelmingly large amount of people signing up for the region’s new STAR smart payment card system, according to a local news brief.

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By Kamran Yazdanjoo, Director of Open Payments, Cubic Transportation Systems

Diversity, accessibility and convenience are the watchwords of transport ticketing in 2012, with the momentum building for bank cards and mobile phones to offer options to traditional transit-issued fare media.

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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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The Chicago Transit Authority is moving ahead with an open-fare transit system after the Chicago Transit Board approved an agreement to implement the new system from Cubic Transportation Systems for $454 million.

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