Commuters on the 14-mile-long rail line connecting Lindenwood, N.J., and Philadelphia would be able to use any contactless-payment card to access trains following a pilot Cubic Corp. announced Feb. 2.
An unspecified number of commuters using the Port Authority Transit Corp. system will test a bank-issued reloadable prepaid card containing a contactless chip over the next six months that they also may use for retail purchases, Cubic noted in a press release. Cubic did not say which bank would issue the card. In the following six months, Cubic plans to expand the test to include any contactless credit or debit card.
More than 70% of the port authority’s travelers use the system’s Freedom smart card, which will not be affected by the test, Cubic says.
Many transit operators are interested in accepting nonproprietary cards to alleviate the costs associated with issuing and operating a transit card system, Cubic says.
Cubic did not respond to PaymentsSource inquiries by deadline.
