Skip to main content

Smart Card Alliance white paper explores possibilities for NFC in transit industry

With near field communication (NFC)-enabled handsets poised to exceed 100 million in 2012, the Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council has announced a new white paper examining how the transit industry can best make use of this popular new technology.
March 14, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
With near field communication (NFC)-enabled handsets poised to exceed 100 million in 2012, the Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council has announced a new white paper examining how the transit industry can best make use of this popular new technology.

"One of the major challenges facing transit agencies today is how to capitalise on the ever-growing popularity of mobile phones with a solid mobile strategy," said Craig Roberts, Utah Transit Authority, and chair of the Transportation Council. "This white paper builds on the knowledge base developed in earlier white papers to foster a greater understanding of NFC technology, explain its role in the transit industry, and shed light on key issues facing the transit industry in developing a mobile strategy."

The white paper, "NFC and Transit," is available for free download by visiting www.smartcardalliance.org/pages/publications-near-field-communication-and-transit. It explores the use of NFC for payment, transit ticketing and non-payment transit information applications.

"In order to fully realise the benefits of NFC technology, transit agencies need to immerse themselves into the operational details of the NFC ecosystem and thoroughly understand the technology and business models," said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance. "This white paper is another piece of the puzzle in terms of fully educating the industry on the ins and outs of NFC."

Participants involved in the development of this white paper included: 1968 Accenture; 13 ACS, 1750 American Express; Ashok Joshi; Collis; Connexem Consulting; 378 Cubic Transportation Systems; 1275 Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART); Giesecke & Devrient; HP Enterprise Services; Identive Group; Infineon Technologies; Inside Secure; JPMorgan Chase; LTK Engineering Services; 1756 MasterCard Worldwide; MTA New York City Transit; NJ Transit; 566 NXP Semiconductors; OTI America; Quadagno & Associates; Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA); 324 US Department of Transportation/Volpe Center; VeriFone; 1758 Visa; and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • ‘We should have binned dockless bikes earlier,’ admits Dallas transit boss
    March 22, 2019
    Micromobility innovations such as dockless bikes have been welcomed by users – but in many cases have been dreaded in the cities where they have been launched, as abandoned bicycles and scooters have caused problems for local residents.
  • TfGM launches tap and go pay across Bee Network
    April 8, 2025
    Payment for buses and trams in UK's Greater Manchester region are simplified
  • Less travel aggravation to blunt Aggieland fans’ motivation
    June 17, 2016
    Returning travel times to normal within two hours of the end of a major football game was the challenge facing College Station, Adam Lyons explains how this was achieved. College Station, TX, also known as ‘Aggieland’, is located right in the middle of the Dallas/Fort Worth, San Antonio and Houston triangle making the city accessible to over 14 million Texans within less than a four-hour drive. One of the biggest draws to this area is Texas A&M University (TAMU) and the Aggie football games in the fall, mea
  • Kerb your enthusiasm, warns Passport
    March 4, 2019
    Dynamic kerbside management is crucial if urban authorities are to address increasingly chaotic situations caused by the gig economy and mobility innovation, says Adam Warnes at Passport Demand for the kerbside is growing and changing and it’s no surprise when you consider the recent innovations within the mobility industry. For starters, there are new modes of transport, including ride-shares, electric vehicles (EVs), dockless cycles, last-mile consolidations and autonomous vehicles (AVs). Secondly, the