The U.S. Department of Defense is planning to pilot using its Common Access Card for access to public transportation, says Bob Gilson, management and program analyst at the Defense Manpower Data Center in the DOD. Gilson made the comments during a session at the Smart Card Alliance Annual Conference in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Gilson has been charged with looking at future applications that could be added to the ID credential and potentially other PIV cards in the future. Transit is the first application being looked at as public transportation authorities are looking to move to open loop systems. Most transit agencies issue proprietary contactless smart card technology but are interested in moving to accepting contactless payments from MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover so they don’t have to issue a card of their own.
In the next 18 months the DOD wants to conduct four pilots, testing adding a transit application to the Common Access Card, Gilson says. A limited test with about 100 participants is already underway in Salt Lake City, which has an open loop transit system.
The DOD is also looking at adding an EMV payment application to the Common Access Card. The application would be a prepaid one that would enable soldiers to make purchases on an off or online environment. ![[end]](/resources/bullet/secureidnews-4.gif)
