Visa Focuses on Transit Payments

Both initiatives are using Visa payWave technology, based on a tiny chip embedded in a payment card that communicates securely with contactless card readers over a very short distance. This means that riders can eliminate the time-consuming step of paying for a ticket at a separate machine or searching for cash – the transaction is completed on Visa’s global processing network, VisaNet. Visa payWave technology adds an extra layer of security to the transaction by attaching a unique code to each transaction, reducing the chance of fraud.

“Extending secure, convenient and reliable Visa payments to subways, trains and buses is a great example of how Visa innovations like Visa payWave can dramatically improve the experience for millions of commuters,” said Tim Attinger, head of product innovation and development at Visa Inc. “By working with our transit partners in Los Angeles, New York and New Jersey, we hope to free busy transit riders from the burden of fumbling for change or searching for paper tickets. At the same time, transit operators can potentially reduce cash handling costs and ticket distribution, letting them focus on their core business of getting people where they need to go.”

Los Angeles pilot

In Los Angeles, Visa is working with the LA Metro system to offer special Visa payWave cards that also incorporate the transit system’s “TAP” fare application. These dual-use, prepaid Visa cards will let riders pay their fares and purchase fare products using their Visa account, while also allowing cardholders to make purchases anywhere Visa debit is accepted.

Two types of cards will be available through the pilot:

• Ride, pay and reload cards – sold through automated ReadySTATION kiosks within the LA Metro system, these cards will be active and ready to use immediately for both transit fares and Visa purchases everywhere Visa debit is accepted. Riders will be able to add up to $500 in value at the kiosks.
• Ride, pay, reload and ATM cash access cards – these are personalized cards with a maximum value limit of $10,000 which are ordered online or over the phone. Beyond a larger value limit the personalized cards have the added feature of a Personal Identification Number (PIN) for obtaining cash at ATMs. It will also function as a standard Visa prepaid card for purchases outside the transit system. In addition, cardholders will be eligible for free direct deposit of their paychecks directly to the Visa prepaid card account, providing added convenience and security over payment alternatives like checks and cash, for those riders without traditional banking relationships.

“Combining TAP and Visa payWave on a single contactless card is a great idea and delivers convenience and speed at bus fare boxes and rail station validators for LA transit riders,” said Roger Snoble, Chief Executive Officer, at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “It also provides commuters with an easy way to reload and manage their LA transit accounts, while providing them with a Visa prepaid card that is accepted at any Visa debit acceptance location or ATM.”

Paris Proof-of-Concept Pilot

Visa Europe is collaborating with RATP to evaluate the concept of Visa payWave acceptance directly at the fare gate. As part of this ongoing activity, the Visa exhibit at the annual CARTES conference, taking place in Paris this week, will feature an RATP gate set up to accept Visa payWave cards. The gate demonstrates that it is technically feasible for the existing Paris Metro gates to accept Visa payWave cards while continuing to accept Navigo, the local closed-loop card in use today. The system also demonstrated how Visa payWave cards can fulfill the special business and ticketing requirements of the Paris Metro. Visa’s next step in this initiative is to expand the trial toward enabling Visa card acceptance at Paris metro fare gates.

“This is an important milestone,” said Sandra Alzetta, Senior Vice President Head of Innovation at Visa Europe. “The Paris Metro system is one of the most technically sophisticated transit environments in the world and we have demonstrated that Visa payWave can indeed integrate with the existing gate system. Our solution proves that Visa payWave cards can provide additional features required by RATP such as the ability for an inspector to determine if a cardholder has paid for their journey and for the gates to track a cardholder’s journey through the system to ensure they are charged the optimal fare.”

Visa’s Transit Strategy

Every day millions of people around the world use public transit – commuting to work, going to shop, or visiting friends and family. For transit riders, speed and convenience are major factors, including when it comes to paying their fares. And for transit system operators, collecting fares and managing the payment and accounting systems can be costly and challenging.

The Los Angeles and Paris metro pilots are the latest transit programs that put Visa at the forefront of merging electronic payments technology with the fare collection needs of transit agencies around the world.

Visa’s global transit strategy supports a range of solutions that can be tailored to the needs of local transit systems and increase the integration between transit and Visa payment. The solutions range from using Visa products to pay for existing transit fare media, to dual-use cards combining the advantages of Visa payWave with proprietary transit applications, to a completely integrated solution where Visa payWave-enabled cards and devices are accepted as the fare media at the gate, reducing the operator’s need to issue proprietary media.