Transport for NSW is to officially launch the digital version of its Opal transit card that enables passengers to pay fares by tapping a reader with their NFC smartphone or smartwatch and to begin trialling a Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) app that will let users plan, book and pay for multimodal journeys across both private and public transport services... More
Prepaid
Global chip shortages drive increased costs for contactless card manufacturers and issuers
The price of EMV-compliant chips supplied to contactless payment card manufacturers increased by more than 50% in 2021 and is expected to rise by more than 20% during 2022 with the overall cost to card issuers for finished first-use plastic cards rising by between 5% and 20% during 2021, according to US research firm Nilson Report... More
Consumers in Malaysia get NFC top-up for contactless fare, toll and parking payments cards
Public transport users and motorists in Malaysia can now top up their physical Touch ’n Go prepaid contactless fare, toll and parking payments card directly from their NFC smartphone... More
Bangladesh switches on support for contactless debit and prepaid cards
The central bank of Bangladesh has announced that it has added approval for contactless debit and prepaid card payments in a circular that also sets a PIN-free transaction limit of Tk3,000 (US$35) and requires card issuers to notify customers of each transaction via SMS... More
Korean buses roll out ‘tagless’ Bluetooth fare payments
Gyeonggi-do Province Transportation Bureau in South Korea has officially launched a ‘tagless’ fare payment system that uses Bluetooth technology to detect a Bluetooth signal from a passenger’s smartphone when they board and alight from the vehicle and then automatically charges their pre- or post-paid transit card for their fare... More
Public transport users in the Philippines get NFC top-up for contactless fare payment cards
Public transport users in the Philippines can now top up their Beep prepaid contactless fare payments card directly from their NFC-enabled smartphone... More
Moscow ticketing app begins nationwide rollout
Public transport users in the Russian city of Tula are the first outside Moscow to be able to top up their prepaid Troika transit card from their smartphone using the My Troika app... More
Sydney to trial multimodal Mobility-as-a-Service app with subscription options
Transport for NSW is to pilot a Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) app in Sydney, Australia, that will enable passengers to plan, book and pay for journeys across both private and public transport services and opt to purchase a prepaid multimodal mobility plan... More
Schools in Scotland let students make contactless meal payments with their face
Students at secondary schools in North Ayrshire in Scotland can now opt to make contactless payments for their school meals and snacks by authenticating their identity using biometric face recognition technology... More
Dallas adds bank card and digital wallet payments to contactless transit ticketing system
Passengers using buses, trains and streetcars operated by Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) in the Dallas-Fort Worth area of the US state of Texas can now make contactless fare payments with their debit or credit card or from a digital wallet on their NFC-enabled mobile device... More
University of Queensland pilots multimodal subscription-based Mobility-as-a-Service app
Students and staff at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, are trialling a multimodal Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) app that enables them to purchase a fixed-price prepaid mobility plan for unlimited journeys by bus, train, tram and ferry services across South East Queensland... More
Sofia rolls out open loop contactless ticketing on public transport network
Passengers on buses, trams and trolleybuses in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia can now pay their fares by simply tapping their physical contactless credit or debit card or a digital card uploaded to their NFC mobile wallet on an on-board reader... More
Unspent stored value on Starbucks prepaid cards nears US$1.63bn
Starbucks customers have accumulated a total unspent balance of US$1.628bn on the company’s prepaid physical and digital reward and gift cards, the coffee giant’s 2021 Q3 earnings call has revealed... More
Santa Barbara gets fare capped open loop contactless ticketing as California rollout expands
Passengers travelling on express bus services in the Santa Barbara region of the US state of California can now pay their fares by tapping an on-board payment reader with their contactless debit, credit, prepaid card or mobile wallet... More
Bahrain bank unveils kids’ NFC payments band that lets parents monitor transactions
Customers of Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB) can now open a prepaid card account that enables their children to make contactless in-store payments with an NFC-enabled wristband and allows parents to digitally issue allowances and monitor transactions... More
Mastercard in talks with PBOC over support for cross-border digital yuan transactions
Mastercard is seeking a role in the development of China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) by supporting the use of the digital yuan for cross-border transactions and its conversion to and from foreign currencies, according to South China Morning Post (SCMP)... More
Transport for Ireland adds NFC transit card top-ups for iPhone users
Passengers on public transportation services in Ireland can now use an NFC-enabled iPhone to top up their Leap transit card using Transport for Ireland’s (TfI) Leap Card top-up app... More
Dayton RTA adds physical cards to Tapp Pay mobile ticketing service
The Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority (GDRTA) in the US state of Ohio has launched a reusable physical smartcard to enable passengers without a smartphone to make capped contactless fare payments using its Tapp Pay account-based ticketing service... More
Hong Kong and Macau to distribute stimulus payments to citizens’ digital wallets
The governments of Hong Kong and Macau are to stimulate consumer spending by distributing digital payment vouchers that residents can store in their mobile wallets or on a prepaid smartcard and then use to make purchases from retailers and other local businesses... More
Alpha Bank upgrades NFC mobile wallet with latest tokenization innovations
PARTNER NEWS: Greece’s Alpha Bank has launched a new version of its myAlpha NFC payments wallet that makes use of Antelop Solutions’ NFC white label SDK to add support for the latest Visa VTS and Mastercard MDES tokenization innovations... More