Contactless Smart Cards, RFID, Payment, Transit and Security

HCM City to run smart card pilot for bus fare

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Next month Ho Chi Minh City will begin implementing smart card bus faring for all buses traveling between Ben Thanh Market to Binh Tay Market, according to Viet Nam News.

The smart cards will be available to passengers for VND30,000. Passengers can re-up their cards for 30 rides (VND69,000) or 60 rides (VND90,000). Students will get discount fares of VND63,000 for 60 rides a month.


Transit authorities expect to issue 7,000 cards beginning on March 1, with plans for expansion based on the success of the pilot.

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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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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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HID Global has announced the successful completion of the world’s first university pilot of NFC smart phones carrying digital keys.

First announced in September, the pilot involved a select group of students and staff at Arizona State University using NFC-enabled smart phones equipped with HID’s Secure Identity Object (SIO) Technology. Participants could gain access to their residence halls and other secure access areas by tapping their handset against a reader embedded in the door and entering a PIN, rather than use their plastic campus card.

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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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Isis, the mobile commerce joint venture between AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, is preparing to launch a massive NFC payments pilot in Salt Lake City this summer, reports the Salt Lake Tribune.

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