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Open-loop payments performed well for Seattle-area transit agencies during the recent World Cup matches the city co-hosted. But a regional fare official said he hopes open loop won’t “cannibalize” the region’s closed-loop ORCA card. For one thing, transaction fees to accept open loop are high.
• Document: Wells Fargo card processing statement (key pages), for Feb. 2026
• Sound Transit
• Community Transit
• King County Metro
• INIT
• Wells Fargo
• Visa
• Mastercard
• American Express
• Discover
• Cal-ITP
• APTA
Open-loop payments for transit agencies serving the Seattle area now make up around 10% of trips six months after launch, and the technology performed “flawlessly” during the recent World Cup. But transit officials still want to convert open-loop riders to “regular” riders who tap the closed-loop ORCA card.
That’s according to Robert Jensen, manager of regional technology at Community Transit, one of seven agencies in the Central Puget Sound region that accept the ORCA closed-loop card. Six of these principal agencies fully launched open-loop payments in the last week of February.
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