Skip to main content

US transit networks gear up for chip cards and mobile payments

Washington Metro has joined Chicago and New York in making plans to accept contactless bank payment cards at the turnstile, as a mass-market switch to EMV-based chip cards appears increasingly likely. Washington Metro has awarded Accenture a US$184 million contract to replace the existing fare collection systems for Metrorail, Metro-operated parking facilities, Metrobus and MetroAccess services. The new system will enable passengers to continue to use existing SmarTrip cards, while expanding fare paym
January 15, 2014 Read time: 1 min
Washington Metro has joined Chicago and New York in making plans to accept contactless bank payment cards at the turnstile, as a mass-market switch to EMV-based chip cards appears increasingly likely.

Washington Metro has awarded 1968 Accenture a US$184 million contract to replace the existing fare collection systems for Metrorail, Metro-operated parking facilities, Metrobus and MetroAccess services.

The new system will enable passengers to continue to use existing SmarTrip cards, while expanding fare payment to chip-enabled credit cards, federal government ID cards, and mobile phones using near field communications (NFC).

1000 Chicago Transit Authority has also decided to convert to the Ventra open-fare payment system from 378 Cubic Transportation Systems, while the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority is planning to move to EMV chip cards and mobile payments.

Related Content

  • December 15, 2014
    PPP helps speed Chicago’s transit fare upgrade
    David Crawford on a fast-tracked payment upgrade. This July saw the completion of the final stage of the implementation of Chicago’s new Ventra open fare payment system on the services of two of the region’s three transit providers, the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) and regional bus operator Pace. Ventra has been introduced to accept any contactless general purpose payment card, including personal debit and credit cards.
  • October 27, 2017
    Cubic wins contract from MTA to replace MetroCard with new fare payment system
    Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) has been chosen for a contract valued, $539.5 million (£409.4 million) with additional options worth $33.9 million (£25.7 million), by the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to replace the MetroCard with a fare payment system similar to Transport for London (TfL). The new system is designed with the intention of providing an enhanced and integrated travel experience across the region including seamless access to Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and Metro-Nort
  • April 23, 2024
    Minneapolis-St. Paul’s Go-To gets the Cubic touch
    Contactless fare system is centrepiece of upgrade to transit ticketing in the Twin Cities
  • March 14, 2012
    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.