State of California Seeks to Change Way Transit Agencies Procure Fare Systems

Card at terminal-Monetery-Salinas Transit

As the California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, sees it, the state’s more than 300 local transit agencies offer a fragmented and inefficient mix of fare collection systems–a fact it says discourages many potential riders among the state’s nearly 40 million residents from taking public transit. […]

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Open-Loop Payments Trial at Small California Transit Agency Could Lead to More Rollouts in Giant State

California public bus agency Monterey-Salinas Transit last month officially launched a six-month “demonstration” project to pilot contactless open-loop payments. While the agency is very small, providing only around 3,500 rides per day last year, the launch holds much greater significance. […]

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Transit Payments Company Head: Apple and Google Positioned to Take Bigger Piece of Payments Industry

The head of transit payments gateway and processor Littlepay said he believes that Apple and Google are well-positioned to take a “big bite out of the payment chain,” which could change their relationship with payments networks Visa and Mastercard from one of collaboration to one of competition. […]

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Software-as-Service Platforms for Transit Agencies Begin to Support Open-Loop Payments

In what is believed to be a first, a transit agency in Europe plans to accept contactless credit and debit cards using a third-party software-as-a-service platform this summer, according to UK-based platform provider Masabi, although the company declined to name the agency. The project is expected to begin as a pilot. […]

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