Contactless Smart Cards, RFID, Payment, Transit and Security

Riding Seattle's rails, ferries, buses, ORCA style

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Stands to reason that a transit card with large ambitions should be named after a whale, doubly so when that card serves Seattle a city where whale-watching is big business. When it involves replacing multiple types of fare media while linking seven disparate transit systems, you know the ORCA card is aptly named.

ORCA, stands for One Regional Card for All. It was rolled out in April and covers Washington’s five county Puget Sound area, and serves a population of about 1.5 million.

There are 1225 words in the rest of this article …

Library Access Required

Library subscribers have access to the full archives of more than 10,000 original news items and feature articles published by AVISIAN’s suite of ID technology publications (ContactlessNews.com, CR80News.com, DigitalIDNews.com, FIPS201.com, NFCNews.com, RFIDNews.org, SecureIDNews.com, and ThirdFactor.com).

For just $49, you receive unlimited password-protected access to content on all of AVISIAN’s sites for an entire year. Your subscription helps fund the continued creation of independent, insightful content. Find out more.

Sign in as a Subscriber

If you are already a subscriber, you may sign in now. Enter your Email Address and Password and click Sign In.

Email Address →
Password →
Action →

If you have forgotten your password, enter just your Email Address, and click Send Password.

Email Address →
Action →

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.

read more »

The Huntsville, Ala. school district is conducting a pilot program that will track when and where students get on and off the bus. Currently, three schools–an elementary, middle and high school–are involved in the pilot.

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 »

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.

read more »

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.

read more »

The Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC), the state run bus service in Maharashtra, India, has adopted a smart card ticketing system to replace its existing paper passes for transit buses.

read more »

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