Visa, Mastercard Forecast More Contactless Growth in U.S., Spurred in Part by New York Fare Payments Service

The heads of the two largest payments networks in the U.S., Visa and Mastercard, predict strong growth for contactless payments in the U.S., with Mastercard CEO Ajay Banga noting that 70% of U.S. Mastercard-branded cards in the U.S. are coming up for reissue over the next 12 to 14 months, and most of these cards will be issued with a contactless interface. A large number of Visa-branded cards will be reissued with a contactless interface during that period, as well. […]

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Helsinki to Roll Out Multimodal Contactless EMV Fare Payments, with Plans for Daily and Weekly Fare Capping

The Helsinki Regional Transport Authority plans to accept contactless EMV payments on its multimodal system, including its buses, metro, trams and ferries. The rollout, expected to be completed in 2023, will also support daily and weekly fare capping. […]

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Boston Transit Agency Seeks to Put Massive Fare-Collection Project Back on Track

The massive new fare-collection system planned by Boston’s Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, or MBTA, which will include open-loop contactless payments and an expanded closed-loop program, has had trouble getting off the ground. Late last week, the transit agency finalized its “reset” of the project, agreeing to increase the contract by nearly 30% to just over $935 million and to add two more years to the rollout schedule–all in hopes of getting the project back on track. […]

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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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Cubic Strikes Deal with Google to Enable Closed-Loop Transit Payments in Google Pay

In a move that could enable more large transit agencies to offer NFC mobile payments with their closed-loop transit cards, U.S.-based Cubic Transportation Systems has signed an agreement with Google to integrate contactless transit cards with Google Pay. Among the agencies planning to support the service are those serving Google’s home base in Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area, as well as the Metropolitan Transportation Authority in New York. […]

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As Covid-19 Causes Transit Ridership to Plummet, Mobile-Ticketing Vendors Hope to Help Bring Riders Back

(This premium article was originally published in May 2020. © Mobility Payments and Forthwrite Media.) As the Covid-19 crisis sows fear among mass transit customers and causes ridership on buses, trains and trams to crash, there is heightened interest in mobile ticketing and other electronic fare payments as a way to ease the concerns and […]

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