Sydney Transit Official: Opal Card Not Going Away, Despite Growth of Contactless

Sydney-based Transport for New South Wales, Australia’s largest transit agency, has no plans to phase out or de-emphasize its closed-loop Opal card, despite strong adoption of contactless open-loop payments by customers, especially with mobile wallets, according to Kurt Brissett, executive director for connected journeys for the agency. […]

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Panel: Closed-Loop Payments Expected to Remain an Option for Years to Come Despite Growth of Open Loop

While the trend today is for more transit agencies to introduce open-loop fare payments, closed-loop cards, either in physical form or dematerialized on smartphones and wearables, will be with us for many years to come–though perhaps in a reduced role. That’s according to a recent panel discussion at the Mobility Payments Asia Pacific 2021 conference. […]

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Cubic’s MaaS Point Man: Control of MaaS Apps by VC-Funded Start-Ups Coming to an End; Whim App Chief: Not So Fast

Andy Taylor, senior director, global strategy for Cubic Transportation Systems contended that the MaaS market is at a crossroads and could fail if it doesn’t change course, including putting cities and public agencies firmly in the “driving seat” of MaaS apps. […]

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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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More Transit Agencies Seek to Eliminate Cash Using Retail Cash Points, Fintechs

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, elimination of cash has taken on greater urgency for transit agencies. Fare-collection system suppliers say they are seeing strong demand for cashless options, including linking their mobile ticketing and contactless closed-loop card products to retail networks where customers can use cash. […]

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