Top Stories

Washington, D.C.’s, SmarTrip Latest Closed-Loop Fare Card Added to Pays Wallet
Open-Loop Payments Trial at Small California Transit Agency Could Lead to More Rollouts in Giant State
Cubic Announces Two More Small Transit Agencies Launching Umo, as Company Seeks to Broaden Market Reach
In-Depth: Transit Agency Sells Passes for Bikes and Buses through Trip-Planning App, though Cash Still Reigns
More Top Stories
Washington, D.C.’s, SmarTrip Latest Closed-Loop Fare Card Added to Pays Wallet
Published: Jun 9 2021
NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, or WMATA, as expected, has added its closed-loop fare card SmarTrip to Google Pay, following support by Apple Pay for the card last year.
Open-Loop Payments Trial at Small California Transit Agency Could Lead to More Rollouts in Giant State
Published: May 12 2021
NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – California public bus agency Monterey-Salinas Transit on Tuesday officially launched a six-month “demonstration” project to pilot contactless open-loop payments. While the agency is very small, providing only around 3,500 rides per day last year, the launch holds much greater significance.
Cubic Announces Two More Small Transit Agencies Launching Umo, as Company Seeks to Broaden Market Reach
Published: May 8 2021
NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – U.S.-based Cubic Transportation Systems has announced contracts with two more small U.S. transit agencies to move to Cubic’s Umo ticketing platform, as the large automated fare-collection system vendor seeks to broaden its market reach.
In-Depth: Transit Agency Sells Passes for Bikes and Buses through Trip-Planning App, though Cash Still Reigns
Published: May 4 2021
NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – RTC of Southern Nevada, the main transit agency serving Las Vegas and the surrounding region, now enables customers to buy passes for bike share in addition to tickets for buses through the trip-planning Transit app. Although the implementation is relatively small, project backers say Las Vegas is the first U.S. city to launch bike share and transit passes in the same app.

NFC Confidential

Apple Joins Conference Circuit and Hype Happens; And is Apple Pay Cash a Threat to Banks?

Published: Oct 26 2017

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight –LAS VEGAS: Perhaps to both preserve its mystique and avoid leaks, Apple has scrupulously avoided speaking or exhibiting at trade shows and conferences over the years.

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Features

In-Depth: As Covid-19 Causes Transit Ridership to Plummet, Third-Party Mobile-Ticketing Vendors Hope to Help Bring Riders Back

Published: May 18 2020
By: 
Dan Balaban

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – As the Covid-19 crisis sows fear among mass transit customers and causes ridership on buses, trains and trams to crash, there is heightened interest in mobile ticketing and other electronic fare payments as a way to ease the concerns and help coax wary riders to return.  

Read more »
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Analysis: Apple Chips Away at Fortress Europe with Another Major Bank Planning to Join Apple Pay

Published: Apr 24 2019
By: 
Dan Balaban

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – With Switzerland’s No. 2 bank, Credit Suisse, expected to participate in Apple Pay, the U.S.-based tech giant continues to chip away at resistance among major European banks to joining its digital payments service.

Read more »
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U.S. Football Sees NFC-Enabled E-Tickets as way to Cut Fraud, Market to Fans

Published: Aug 15 2018
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – With the National Football League kicking off its season in a few weeks in the U.S., fans will be using NFC, QR codes and perhaps ultrasonic signals on their mobile devices, in addition to tapping contactless-enabled paper tickets, to attend football games and other events at all 31 NFL stadiums.

Read more »
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In-Depth: As U.S. Lags in Contactless Payments, are Issuers Ready to Roll Out Dual-Interface EMV Cards?

Published: Jul 30 2018
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Most issuers in the U.S. have so far held back from rolling out contactless or dual-interface cards, but merchant acceptance has been quietly building over the past few years, despite some large U.S. retailers balking at accepting contactless cards and NFC-enabled devices.

Read more »
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In-Depth: Can Contactless Cards Succeed in U.S. Where NFC Mobile Wallets Have Failed?

Published: Jun 19 2018
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Payments industry backers suggest that U.S. banks could have an incentive to begin contactless rollouts soon, but in the absence of deadlines from the major payments networks, which are rapidly approaching in other markets, there's no guarantee of rollouts in the U.S. on the horizon.

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How Mobile Wallets, Payments Wearables, Tokenization Fared the Past Year, and Where They Stand Now

Published: Jan 11 2018
By: 
Dan Balaban

NFC TIMES Exclusive – As the digital payments ecosystem moves into 2018, it is dealing with many of the same unfulfilled promises, works in progress and unfinished business as in 2017.

Read more »
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U.S. Merchant Apps Square Off Against NFC ‘Pays’ Wallets: The Retailer Perspective

Published: Jan 2 2018
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive – As more U.S. merchants launch their own payments apps, some seem positioned to offer serious competition to Apple Pay and the other NFC “Pays” wallets.

Read more »
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Backers Look to Range of Devices for Contextual Commerce, Though Fragmentation Will Pose Challenges

Published: Dec 1 2017
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Promoters of contextual commerce are looking to a range of connected devices, including smart appliances and such home hubs as Alexa–along with a host of mobile devices–to enable consumers to pay in almost every context. But many challenges remain for what could become a “very disjointed” array of payment options, experts say.

Read more »
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Feature: How Do Mobile Payments Fit into an Omnichannel World?

Published: Nov 10 2017
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – As retailers and payments services providers increasingly try to connect and track consumer transactions across online and in-store channels, mobile payments must function as part of an omnichannel payments ecosystem, say industry observers.

Read more »
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IoT Payments Backers Say Devices Will Range from the Familiar to the Far-Fetched

Published: Nov 1 2017
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – With the buzz around the Internet of Things growing ever stronger, the payments ecosystem is determined not to be left out.

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More features...

Headline News

Budding MaaS App Hits Milestone for Public Transit Tickets but Share of Total Rides Still Low

Published: Apr 21 2021

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – U.S.-based trip-planning app Transit announced it has enabled 500,000 rides from its app for a group of 13 small to mid-tier transit agencies based in the state of Ohio, though mobile ticketing still makes up a small percentage of total rides provided by the agencies.

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Insight: Apple Pay Launch of Virtual Closed-Loop Virtual Clipper Card Follows Emerging Trend

Published: Apr 18 2021

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – Although the trend for transit agencies to support open-loop fare payments, including with Apple Pay, Google Pay and other Pays wallets, has continued unabated–even accelerated–during the pandemic, another trend is taking shape: That of agencies adding virtual versions of their closed-loop fare cards into the Pays wallets.

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First Transit Agency to Sell Tickets Through Uber App Sees Relatively Few Takers Two Years on

Published: Apr 12 2021
Apr 21 2021

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – The Regional Transportation District of Denver was the first transit agency to work with Uber to sell its bus and light rail tickets through the Uber app in the spring of 2019. RTD later that year expanded the service to trip-planning app Transit and then last fall to the app for another ride-hailing service, Lyft.

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Sydney to Test Multimodal Payments Involving Private Mobility Providers Using Digital Closed-Loop Card

Published: Apr 1 2021

NFC Times Exclusive Insight – A trial to be held later this year in Australia’s largest city, Sydney, if it proves successful, could offer one example for how agencies can encourage customers to take multimodal transport combining public and private operators. The economics behind the New South Wales government’s trial offer are unclear, however.

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Rome Transit Operator: Covid Accelerates Demand for Contactless Payments but Customer Habits Hard to Change

Published: Mar 29 2021

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – The CIO of Italy’s largest public transit operator, ATAC SpA, said the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated demand for open-loop contactless and mobile payments, but added that old habits are hard to break for customers and use of cash and paper tickets are still popular.

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Dubai Transit Authority Plans to Launch Its Closed-Loop Card in More NFC Wallets

Published: Mar 25 2021

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority, or RTA, which in December first launched mobile fare payments with a digital version of its closed-loop card in Huawei smartphones, says it plans to expand the service to other OEMs, including Apple and Samsung.

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Case Study: Transit Agency in Portugal Combined NFC with BLE for Mobile Ticketing; Faced Challenges

Published: Mar 22 2021

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – The agency that runs ticketing for 19 public bus, tram and train operators serving Porto, Portugal’s second largest city, says it has had success–and faced several challenges–with the rollout of its Anda mobile-ticketing app.

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OMNY Hits New Usage Milestone as Open-Loop Payments Rollout Continues

Published: Mar 17 2021

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or MTA, says it continues to see steady growth of its open-loop fare payments service, OMNY, announcing 50 million taps by customers using NFC wallets and bank cards to ride the massive New York City Subway and the city’s buses.

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In-Depth: Contactless Open-Loop Pilot in Spain First Project from Vendor Partnership

Published: Mar 10 2021
Mar 11 2021

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Bilbobus, which operates bus service for the city of Bilbao, in northern Spain’s Basque region, says it launched its recent trial of con

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Moscow Metro Plans Rollout of ‘Face Pay’ Technology for Fare Collection

Published: Mar 4 2021

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – The Moscow Metro plans to roll out facial-recognition technology at every station by the end of 2021 to enable customers to pay fares, officials say. The project, while delayed, would be the largest of its kind globally.

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Stockholm Transit Agency Launches Open-Loop Fare Payments for Multimodal Rides

Published: Feb 28 2021

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Stockholm Public Transport, or SL, the city-owned company that oversees major public transport in the city, is the latest agency in Europe to launch open-loop fare collection, offering multimodal rides with a tap of a contactless EMV bank card or NFC device.

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Case Study: Amsterdam Transit Operator Seeks to Go Nearly 100% Digital for Ticketing to Cut Costs and Enhance Service

Published: Feb 23 2021

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – GVB, Amsterdam’s largest public transit operator, says it seeks to replace an aging closed-loop fare card system and go to open-loop and other digital tokens with the planned rollout of its new account-based ticketing system.

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Home

Worldwide Project Database

New Zealand

New Zealand: New Zealand JV Launches SIM-Based Wallet After Delay,...
The Semble joint venture, formerly known as TSM NZ, is made up of the countr
New Zealand: Second Major Banks Announces Plans to Launch Mobile...
ANZ plans to add HCE-based wallet and payments to its goMoney mobile-banking
New Zealand: Westpac Launches HCE Trial, Plans Commercial Launch in...
The 40-person trial among staffers and some customers puts a MasterCar

Netherlands

Netherlands: Rabobank First Dutch Bank to Launch NFC Commercially;...
Rabobank is putting its debit application on embedded chips in two older Samsung NFC devices, shunni

Hungary

Hungary: Magyar Telekom Launches Commercial NFC Service
The launch is the first commercial NFC service i

U.S.

U.S.: With Apple Pay Launch Imminent–a Rundown of Key Participants and...
Apple is launching its mobile-payments platform, Apple Pay, Oct.

Taiwan

Taiwan: Chunghwa Telecom First to Market with NFC Launch, but...
Chunghwa Telecom’s NFC-enabled Easy Hami Wallet enables users to tap to pay with MasterCard PayPass credit cards issued by four of the...

Spain

UPDATE: Spain: Bankinter Launches HCE Service, Predicts 30,000 Users in...
Mid-tier Spanish bank Bankinter finally launched its cloud-based payments using its own host-card emulation-based system, which it...

Switzerland

UPDATED: Switzerland: Shared NFC Wallet to be Deployed by Three Telcos...
Switzerland’s other two major telcos, Orange and Sunrise, are expected to launch the

Germany

Germany: No. 3 Telco Launches Wallet and Payments Application,...
Germany’s No.
More recent updates...

Features Section

In-Depth: As Covid-19 Causes Transit Ridership to Plummet, Third-Party Mobile-Ticketing Vendors Hope to Help Bring Riders Back

Published: May 18 2020
By: 
Dan Balaban

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – As the Covid-19 crisis sows fear among mass transit customers and causes ridership on buses, trains and trams to crash, there is heightened interest in mobile ticketing and other electronic fare payments as a way to ease the concerns and help coax wary riders to return.  

Read more »
TAGS:

Analysis: Apple Chips Away at Fortress Europe with Another Major Bank Planning to Join Apple Pay

Published: Apr 24 2019
By: 
Dan Balaban

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – With Switzerland’s No. 2 bank, Credit Suisse, expected to participate in Apple Pay, the U.S.-based tech giant continues to chip away at resistance among major European banks to joining its digital payments service.

Read more »
TAGS:

U.S. Football Sees NFC-Enabled E-Tickets as way to Cut Fraud, Market to Fans

Published: Aug 15 2018
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – With the National Football League kicking off its season in a few weeks in the U.S., fans will be using NFC, QR codes and perhaps ultrasonic signals on their mobile devices, in addition to tapping contactless-enabled paper tickets, to attend football games and other events at all 31 NFL stadiums.

Read more »
TAGS:

In-Depth: As U.S. Lags in Contactless Payments, are Issuers Ready to Roll Out Dual-Interface EMV Cards?

Published: Jul 30 2018
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Most issuers in the U.S. have so far held back from rolling out contactless or dual-interface cards, but merchant acceptance has been quietly building over the past few years, despite some large U.S. retailers balking at accepting contactless cards and NFC-enabled devices.

Read more »
TAGS:

In-Depth: Can Contactless Cards Succeed in U.S. Where NFC Mobile Wallets Have Failed?

Published: Jun 19 2018
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Payments industry backers suggest that U.S. banks could have an incentive to begin contactless rollouts soon, but in the absence of deadlines from the major payments networks, which are rapidly approaching in other markets, there's no guarantee of rollouts in the U.S. on the horizon.

Read more »
TAGS:

How Mobile Wallets, Payments Wearables, Tokenization Fared the Past Year, and Where They Stand Now

Published: Jan 11 2018
By: 
Dan Balaban

NFC TIMES Exclusive – As the digital payments ecosystem moves into 2018, it is dealing with many of the same unfulfilled promises, works in progress and unfinished business as in 2017.

Read more »
TAGS:

U.S. Merchant Apps Square Off Against NFC ‘Pays’ Wallets: The Retailer Perspective

Published: Jan 2 2018
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive – As more U.S. merchants launch their own payments apps, some seem positioned to offer serious competition to Apple Pay and the other NFC “Pays” wallets.

Read more »
TAGS:

Backers Look to Range of Devices for Contextual Commerce, Though Fragmentation Will Pose Challenges

Published: Dec 1 2017
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Promoters of contextual commerce are looking to a range of connected devices, including smart appliances and such home hubs as Alexa–along with a host of mobile devices–to enable consumers to pay in almost every context. But many challenges remain for what could become a “very disjointed” array of payment options, experts say.

Read more »
TAGS:

Feature: How Do Mobile Payments Fit into an Omnichannel World?

Published: Nov 10 2017
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – As retailers and payments services providers increasingly try to connect and track consumer transactions across online and in-store channels, mobile payments must function as part of an omnichannel payments ecosystem, say industry observers.

Read more »
TAGS:

IoT Payments Backers Say Devices Will Range from the Familiar to the Far-Fetched

Published: Nov 1 2017
By: 
K.N. Smith

NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – With the buzz around the Internet of Things growing ever stronger, the payments ecosystem is determined not to be left out.

Read more »
TAGS:
More features...