Smart Card Alliance forms a transportation council
23 March, 2005
category: Contactless, Financial, Transit
The Smart Card Alliance announced the creation of the Transportation Council to promote the adoption of contactless interoperable smart card payment systems for transit and other transportation services. The newly formed Transportation Council, in association with the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), will initiate projects to support applications of smart card use. The overall goal of the Alliance’s Transportation Council is to help accelerate the deployment of standards-based smart card payment programs within the transportation industry.
“The transit industry has made significant progress in supporting the use of contactless smart card-based payments as the most convenient and secure payment option for commuters,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance. “The Transportation Council would like to leverage that progress by joining forces with key organizations, such as APTA, to address ways to accelerate payment processing across multiple operators.”
Initial Transportation Council projects will support advancement of
transit fare collection systems and explore linkages between transit payment systems and smart card programs in the tolling, parking and financial industries. The Council also plans to investigate how transportation payment systems and credentialing systems can be linked through the use of multi- application smart card technology.
“We are pleased that the transportation marketplace has matured to the point that there is energy and interest in forming a special market Council. We are honored to be the interim co-chairs, helping to develop a work plan that further advances the adoption of smart cards,” said Greg Garback, executive officer – finance, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, and Mike Dinning, chief Infrastructure Protection and Operations Division, U.S. Department of Transportation/Volpe Center.
“This new partnership between the Transportation Council and APTA is an important step forward in the development of interface standards for transit payment systems,” said William W. Millar, president, American Public Transportation Association. “This partnership will leverage the critical knowledge and technological insight of Alliance members bringing an expanded perspective and understanding.”
The Transportation Council is open to participation from vendors and
transit organizations that join the Alliance and the Council. It will be managed by a steering committee, initially co-chaired by Mike Dinning and Greg Garback. The steering committee includes a broad spectrum of leaders from the transportation and smart card industries, such as APTA, systemsintegrators, consultancies, financial service providers and technology firms.