Contactless Smart Cards, RFID, Payment, Transit and Security

Vancouver may get smart card transit program, but not until 2011

Monday, June 16, 2008

An automated fare collection system is being contemplated by the transportation agency in Vancouver, British Columbia. The minister of transportation, Kevin Falcon, said he wants the system up and running as soon as possible because it will help block people from riding unauthorized and unpaid as well as make the transit system safer.

He is shooting for a launch in 2010, but TransLink, the organization responsible for the regional transportation network in Vancouver, may proceed cautiously. They are planning a smart card system that could be close to completed by 2010, but they don’t feel that it will officially launch that soon. Systems throughout the world on average take around six years to complete, from when they get the green light to start the project to the time it was actually operational. One advantage for TransLink is that they have been following smart card-using systems throughout the world and will be hopefully be able to avoid some of the problems that current systems have had.

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The Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council has published a white paper examining how the transit industry can best make use of NFC technology.

“One of the major challenges facing transit agencies today is how to capitalize on the ever-growing popularity of mobile phones with a solid mobile strategy,” said Transportation Council Chairman Craig Roberts. “This white paper builds on the knowledge base developed in earlier white papers to foster a greater understanding of NFC technology, explain its role in the transit industry, and shed light on key issues facing the transit industry in developing a mobile strategy.”

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India is emerging as one of the world’s fastest growing smart card markets, according to a new research report by RNCOS. With more than one billion in population and increasing modern application areas, India is anticipated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of approximately 15% during 2011-2014.

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Cubic Transportation Systems, distributor of the electronic transit Clipper card, has responded to the recent news of a Ph.D. student in IT Security allegedly breaking the encryption in Clipper and similar transit cards.

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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 Bay Area’s Clipper transit fare collection program has reached the millionth milestone - 1 million active cards in circulation.

As of Dec. 16, there were 1,000,606 active Clipper cards in use, nearly a 30% increase from the 778,197 active cards in circulation six months ago, and a 142% increase from the 413,616 active cards in circulation a year ago.

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UK mobile operator O2 is delaying the launch of its “O2 Wallet” mobile contactless payments, loyalty and transit app due to concerns that it is “not yet offering an adequate customer experience,” reports MarketingWeek.

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