MasterCard has announced that it is teaming with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Stagecoach, a bus company, to trial a combined contactless bank and transit card in the UK city of Liverpool.
The one-year pilot is scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 2009 and will enable users to pay for journeys by tapping their cards against readers on around 200 Stagecoach buses in Merseyside.MasterCard said that the trial is the first time a contactless bank card will be used to make payments on public transport in the UK. Unlike London's Oyster transit system, the card does not need to be topped up because funds are automatically debited from the debit or credit card, added MasterCard.Users will also be able to make payments of GBP10 or less with their PayPass contactless cards at retailers in the area that accept the technology.Tom Wileman, regional director of Stagecoach Merseyside, said: "This new state-of-the-art system will make bus travel faster and more convenient for thousands of people in Liverpool every day and help attract car users to more sustainable public transport."
