Citi's Smart Credit/Transit Card

  In the first major U.S. test of combining transit fare payment with a credit card, Citigroup Inc. in late November began mailing customers in the Washington, D.C., area a platinum card they can also use to pay transit and parking fees, CCM sister publication CardLine reported Nov. 30.
  Embedded in the conventional magnetic-stripe credit card is the same type of contactless smart card chip that allows 750,000 Washington-area commuters to use their SmarTrip tap-and-go cards to pay subway and bus fares as well as parking fees at 33 lots operated by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.
  "Citi's research indicates strong customer response to the concept of a combined credit and transit card," a Citi spokesperson told CardLine.
  Citi planned to mail 8,000 of the new cards to existing customers that week, according Greg Garback, executive officer in the finance department of WMATA. Starting early in 2005, he says, Citi plans to offer the card to new customers. In all, he says, the plan is to issue about 20,000 cards in the pilot.
  Garback says commuters will be able to load the transit chip with value at vending machines in subway stations, charging the value to their Citi card.
  The Citigroup spokesperson says Citi will replace fare value remaining on the chip if the card is lost. The spokesperson adds that Citi hopes to benefit "from gaining customers and from 'top-of-wallet' card presence."
  The card's chip is meant to function only on the Washington transit system; it is not a Europay/MasterCard/Visa (EMV) chip for payment applications.