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.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Learning from informal transit networks
    March 30, 2021
    When it comes to public transportation, the Minority World could take lessons in equity from the mobility infrastructure of emerging market cities, says Devin de Vries of WhereIsMyTransport
  • Smartphone - the next technology for charging and tolling?
    January 25, 2012
    With all the debates over the most suitable future technology or technologies for charging and tolling, is it not time for the industry to look at what the rest of ITS is doing and bring a rank outsider - the smart phone - closer into the fold? By Jack Opiola, D'Artagnan Consulting LLC
  • Düsseldorf orders 540 e-ticketing machines
    June 6, 2012
    Hoeft & Wessel has received an order from Rheinbahn, the company responsible for the public transport system in Germany's Düsseldorf and the surrounding region, for the installation of e-ticketing machines (ETMs) with an integrated boarding control system.
  • Cubic to expand University of Maryland NextBus system
    February 2, 2017
    Cubic Transportation Systems has been awarded a US$1.1 million, five-year contract extension from the University of Maryland (UMD) to upgrade its bus fleet management system, which currently features approximately 80 buses. They all have NextBus hardware capabilities, including GPS-based trackers, driver control units and automatic vehicle location to inform passengers of the place and time of bus arrivals. Under the contract extension, Cubic will enhance UMD’s smart bus offering by providing features su