JPMorgan Chase & Co. is issuing Visa Inc. prepaid cards to participants in a New York City transit trial for disabled passengers.
Customers of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Access-A-Ride program will be able to use the cards for taxi service on trips they would typically take on the program's vans, the organization said Thursday.
"For the first time, our disabled customers will be able to take regularly scheduled trips by hailing a yellow taxi and using a special, pre-loaded Chase debit card," Jay Walder, the chairman and chief executive of the MTA, said in a press release.
The Access-A-Ride program is geared toward customers who are unable to use public bus or subway service. Because most of the program's customers do not require wheelchair lift service, the MTA can save money by allowing them to schedule rides using taxi service. The MTA expects to save between $155,000 and $200,000 a month.
The MTA began loading value onto the prepaid cards on Dec. 9, and JPMorgan Chase has been processing and mailing them. The amounts loaded onto the cards, which cover two weeks of service, vary depending on the customer's destination and frequency of use.
