Merseytravel, the transport authority for Merseyside County, England, has announced the launch of its new smart fare card, the Walrus. Modeled after London’s Oyster card, the Walrus enables contactless ticketing on Merseyside’s rail, bus and ferry systems, as well as small value purchases at supporting merchants. Neil Scales, chief executive at Merseytravel, explains: “We are […]

South Korean teleco KT has launched Wireless Dynamic’s NFC-enabled protective case for the iPhone 4. The Apple-approved iCarte 420K attaches directly onto the iPhone to enable contactless applications through KT’s Olleh Touch NFC service. Customers using the service can load credit and debit cards onto their phone to make payments at participating merchants, as well […]

IMS Research has released a new report predicting that global contactless smart card shipments will increase from 950 million in 2010 to 3.5 billion in 2016. According to “The World Market for Smart Cards and Smart Card ICs – 2011 Edition,” contactless bank cards will drive most of the growth – primarily from the People’s […]

PATCO, the high speed rail line that runs between Philadelphia and Camden County, N.J., will introduce new contactless Visa fare cards, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. The prepaid Visa card will join the existing contactless Freedom card as part of a one-year open fare payments trial on PATCO run by Cubic Transportation Systems. The Visa […]

The North County Transit District is partnering with schools in the San Diego area to provide students, faculty and staff with discounted transit passes, according to SignOnSanDiego.com. The district issued approximately 449 discount bus-and-rail passes for the current school year at California State University San Marcos. With a 7,800-student population, the University of San Diego […]

The University of Minnesota has launched a pilot reward program, leveraging RFID technology to encourage more students to ride their bike, according to the Minnesota Daily. The campus started by installing some 20 RFID checkpoints along major bicycle corridors around campus. In order to earn points, students can register to receive an RFID tag which […]

The Puerto Rico Highway and Transportation Authority (PRHTA) is working with TransCore to launch the conversion of the island’s busiest and most essential roadways to an all electronic toll collection system. Linking San Juan with Ponce, the PR-52 north to south arterial highway, which includes five toll plazas, and PR-53 linking the south and east […]

Schenectady County Community College has inked an agreement with the Capital District Transportation Authority so that students, faculty, and staff can get more out of their campus ID cards. According to the Times Union, the agreement will enable campus cardholders to access the entire CDTA system, including regular transit buses, express and shuttle routes, the […]

Gemalto announced that it is providing Colsubsidio, a Compensation Fund in Colombia, with multi-application EMV cards. The Multi Service Membership Card provides all Colsubsidio members with the security of EMV payment, combined with a range of services. These services include an e-purse application, admittance to recreational parks, as well as access to sport and convention […]

The Open Standard for Public Transport (OSPT) Alliance has published version 1.0 of its Cipurse open ticketing standard to the public for ‘reading and evaluation.’ Designed to give transit authorities ‘future-proof’ fare collection systems, the Cipurse specification will enable technology suppliers to develop and deliver interoperable fare collection solutions via contactless cards, stickers, fobs, mobile […]