2010 was a busy year for the Transportation Council, with activities revolving around opportunities for transit agencies to collaborate with the financial bank card industry in accepting open contactless bank cards for fare payment.

The Council held a successful Transportation Council members’ summit in New York City in September, hosted by MTA NYC Transit, to discuss open contactless bank card payments for transit and learn from the pilot conducted by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) with New York City Transit, Port Authority New York New Jersey and NJ TRANSIT.

Other accomplishments included an update to the white paper “A Guide to Prepaid Cards for Transit Agencies” for 2011, and the development of an open bank card payments for transit workshop that will be delivered in Miami on March 27th in cooperation with the APTA Fare Collection Workshop.

For 2011, the Council will continue the focus on open bank card payments, while adding new projects that reflect the changing transportation and financial industries. This includes projects on convergence, including the possibilities for the convergence of smart card-based ID and transit applications and among transit, parking and toll payments, as well as projects on NFC.

“In the last few years, the transit and payments industries have become more closely linked. With regulations in the United States facing changes, and new technologies like NFC emerging, it is a good time to seriously look at how these changes will affect the future of transit,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance.

The 2011-2012 Transportation Council officers are:

• Chair - Craig Roberts, Utah Transit Authority
• Vice chair, transit - Gerald Kane, Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA)
• Vice chair, parking - Peter Burrows, Parkeon
• Vice chair, transit - Mike Nash, ACS, A Xerox Company

The Council is managed by a steering committee that includes a broad spectrum of leaders from the transportation, financial services and smart card industries. Current steering committee members include:

• Dave Blue, Cubic
• Doug Deckert, Booz Allen Hamilton
• Mike Dinning, U.S. Dept. of Transportation/Volpe Center
• Steve Frazzini, MTA NYC Transit
• Margaret Free, Giesecke & Devrient
• Greg Garback, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)
• Linh Huynh, INSIDE Secure
• Paul Korczak, Korczak & Associates
• Mike Meringer, VeriFone
• Bob Merkert, SCM Microsystems
• Eric Reese, Chicago Transit Authority
• Martin Schroeder, American Public Transportation Association (APTA)
• Brian Stein, Accenture
• Faye Surrette, MasterCard Worldwide
• Sandy Thaw, Visa Inc.