Skip to main content

Philadelphia’s transport system moves to contactless payment

US-based Xerox has been awarded a contract worth US$122 million to provide Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) with a contactless fare collection system. The system, which is to be installed on regional trains as well as buses, trolleys and subways, uses credit or debit cards to collect fares. Philadelphia is home to the USA's sixth largest urban transit network which clocks up 1.1 million journeys per day. Users of the network will soon be saying farewell to cash, metal tokens and
October 8, 2012 Read time: 1 min
US-based 4186 Xerox has been awarded a contract worth US$122 million to provide 4288 Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) with a contactless fare collection system.  The system, which is to be installed on regional trains as well as buses, trolleys and subways, uses credit or debit cards to collect fares.

Philadelphia is home to the USA's sixth largest urban transit network which clocks up 1.1 million journeys per day.  Users of the network will soon be saying farewell to cash, metal tokens and magnetic cards and will be using their contactless credit or debit cards as travel passes and for fare payment.

"Philadelphia was very interested in the full-scale experiment we began back in 2010 on the New York metro and New Jersey buses", recalls Marc Gordon, Vice President, Xerox public transit services and project manager in Philadelphia.

Related Content

  • June 28, 2013
    Largest open transit fare system in the US launches in Chicago
    Cubic Transportation Systems, MasterCard and Money Network are to partner in a program to launch what is said to be the largest open transit fare payment system (OSFS) in the US. The Ventra card is about to make its debut with the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and suburban bus operator Pace, giving customers two new options to pay for train and bus rides. The Ventra card features two accounts - a closed-loop account for transit payments and an optional reloadable prepaid card that can be used for everyday
  • June 20, 2013
    Smart payment ticket for LA commuters
    Xerox’s universal payment system, TAP, now makes it faster and simpler for passengers in Southern California to transfer between passenger trains, buses, subway and light rail. The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) and Metrolink recently teamed up with Xerox to develop TAP-enabled Metrolink tickets that are compatible with the Metro TAP smart fare payment system.
  • February 22, 2022
    Cubic brings Umo to British Columbia 
    Platform is to offer a single electronic fare collection solution for more than 900 buses
  • December 17, 2013
    Cloud-based app paves way for near field ticketing
    Cubic latest introduction provides a short cut for transit authorities looking to offer travellers mobile, smart phone payment options. Transit operators wanting to provide travellers with a mobile fare payment option now have an ‘off-the-shelf’ solution in Cubic’s NextWave. Through the use of near field communications (NFC) technology, NextWave turns travellers’ mobile phones and tablets into the equivalent of a ticket vending machine able to instantly re-load contactless transit cards. It also enables the