PATCO upgrades Freedom card system; eyes open fare payments
09 June, 2011
category: Contactless, Transit
PATCO, the high speed rail line connecting Philadelphia and Camden County, N.J., is updating its fare system to allow passengers to manage their contactless ‘Freedom’ transit cards over the Internet, according to Philly.com.
Starting next week, passengers will be able to log on to www.patcofreedomcard.org to top up their cards and view their transaction history.
PATCO is also planning to integrate support for contactless credit card payments in addition to Freedom card payments, reports Philly.com. The transit agency says it will launch a one year pilot with Cubic Transportation Systems later this month.
The open fare pilot, which will allow passengers to pay for fares with any contactless bank-issued credit and debit card, will begin on PATCO’s 14-mile line between Lindenwold and Center City. According to Philly.com, Cubic will be responsible for upgrading PATCO’s gates, computer operating system and card payment processing.
Starting in September, Bancorp Inc. of Wilmington will also begin offering re-loadable prepaid PATCO Visa cards through local merchants, allowing passengers to tap and pay on PATCO and at any location that accepts Visa, reports Philly.com.
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