MTA NYCT will host Smart Card meeting
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefMTA York City Transit will host a two-day meeting of the SmartCard Alliance Transportation Council in New York City Sept. 22-23. The highlight of the meeting will be a tour of the New York/New Jersey Contactless Fare Payment Trial, which began June 10.
The meeting is open to all Smart Card Alliance members, Transportation Council members, and non-member transportation agencies.
“This is an ideal time and place for our members and transportation industry professionals to meet, learn, and share knowledge about the latest innovations in transit and payments,” said Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance.
The New York/New Jersey Contactless Fare Payment Trial involves MTA New York City Transit, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and New Jersey Transit. In the trial, commuters use a contactless MasterCard® PayPass™ or Visa® payWave® card or device to pay directly for fares with their credit or debit card accounts.
MTA Chairman and CEO Jay H. Walder commented: “We are happy to give our colleagues a demonstration of the New York/New JerseyTransit Trial. The technology that we’re testing will make life easier for our customers and help reduce our cost of doing business at the same time. By using an open network, we’ll break down regional barriers and let people travel across the region with a card that’s already sitting in their wallets.”
The council said it has also invited representatives from transit agencies in Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, Chicago, Paris, London, and other cities to “discuss how they can enable customers to access commuter rail, light rail, subways, and buses using contactless payment cards, stickers, and mobile devices for fare payment.”
