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

  • The ABC of CARTES 2014: Apple, Bitcoin and cloud security are all on the conference agenda
    October 28, 2014
    CARTES 2014, the global event for payment, identification and mobility, is fast approaching and the world’s experts in the sector are about to head to Paris for its biggest and most important annual gathering. The 2013 event welcomed more than 20,000 visitors, some 1,670 of whom attended the opening conference - the World Card Summit - while also visiting the 450 exhibitors at the venue.
  • ITS America annual meeting focuses on smart transportation
    January 25, 2012
    ITS America's next Annual Meeting, in Fort Washington in May 2012, is being planned at a turning point for US transportation and the nation's economy. We asked event organising committee chair Connie Sorrell a few pertinent questions on why attending Fort Washington will be essential for all transportation professionals
  • Payment sticker equips cell phones for mobile payment
    July 18, 2012
    German company G&D has unveiled the first payment sticker to meet the specifications of the German banking industry. When the sticker is attached to a cell phone or smartphone, it enables contactless payment, even if the device itself is not NFC-enabled. The Seccos Mobile payment sticker is certified for the MasterCard contactless payment method PayPass. This allows bank customers worldwide to pay bills at over 350,000 PayPass locations.
  • MBTA chooses Cubic to deliver next-generation fare payment system
    November 22, 2017
    Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) has been selected by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) to install a fare payment system for the region’s multi-modal transit system to allow payment flexibility for customers. The base contract award includes an approximate $575 million (£433 million) for implementation with ten years of operations and maintenance as well two five-year extension options. The agreement also involves a public-private partnership, in which Cubic and John Laing will