NFC Forum Partners To Push Contactless Public Transit Payments

The NFC Forum, a nonprofit industry association, has announced a collaborative effort with the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) to jointly educate the transit industry on the benefits of NFC tech for mobile ticketing.

“NFC will improve the passenger experience by linking passengers with mobile phones and public transit fare payment and by increasing the opportunities to share digital content to improve the transit passenger convenience,” said APTA President and CEO Michael Melaniphy.

Just last month, New York announced support for NFC payments for its 11 million users of the MTA. A similar plan has been added by the U.K. Cards Association to implement contactless payments nationwide for public transit options.

“APTA is pleased to partner with the NFC Forum to help integrate NFC technology into public transportation,” said APTA Chair Valarie J. McCall and board member of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. “It is through partnerships, such as this one with the NFC Forum, that technological innovation is accelerated in our industry.”

The two groups have teamed up to provide programs, including training courses, whitepapers, case study analyses, merchant and transportation customer research, webcasts and hosted events or trade shows. The American Public Transportation Association said it will support the NFC Forum Transport Special Interest Group (SIG) to better determine where NFC can best be used for ticketing options.

The group will also participate in global workshops led by the Transport SIG with leading standards organizations, including the GSM Association (representing mobile operators), CEN/TC278 (the organization promoting Intelligent Transportation Systems), Smart Ticketing Alliance and public transportation authorities.

“NFC technology has the power to transform public transport and the passenger experience,” said Koichi Tagawa, NFC Forum chairman. “NFC will not only streamline fare collection but also make transport operations more seamless, efficient and responsive. We look forward to working with APTA to bring these benefits to operators and their passengers worldwide.”