Contactless Smart Cards, RFID, Payment, Transit and Security

ORCA transit card coming soon to Washington area

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

The contactless One Regional Card for All, better known as ORCA, will soon make its debut in the Puget Sound area of Washington. In the pilot stage for several years, the card will be available for riders of seven area transit agencies. The King County Council recently approved a plan to roll out the regional fare coordination system this spring.

“This system makes various forms of transit more accessible to all riders,” said one government official.”The new ORCA card will help riders have a more seamless and enjoyable transportation experience.”

Read more here[end] 

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.”

read more »

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.

read more »

Passengers on the SoundRunner ferry connecting the Port of Kingston to downtown Seattle will be able to pay for their fares with contactless ORCA cards starting this week, according to Kitsap Sun.

read more »

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.

read more »

Washington D.C. high school and middle school students now need a DC One Card to ride the city’s transit system. The card is a single ID card that gives students access to most D.C. government programs and facilities, including recreation centers, libraries, and the Metro.

read more »

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.

read more »

Subscribe to the Contactless News Library
Gain access to the largest collection of Auto-ID analysis on the Internet.