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.
The latest example is support for Apple Pay by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, or MTC, for its closed-loop Clipper card–accepted by 24 bus, train and other transit operators serving the San Francisco Bay Area. Google plans to add Clipper in May to Google Pay, as part of its major initiative to enable users to pay for transit rides from its trip-planning app Maps, in collaboration with Google Pay. Other closed-loop cards will follow in this program.
The launch of virtual Clipper with Apple Pay and Google Pay had been expected. Since last September, Apple has added support for virtual closed-loop cards in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago and now San Francisco, all with links to local transit apps developed by automated fare collection vendor Cubic Transportation Systems. Users can load and top up the cards directly in Apple Pay or through the local apps. All of the U.S. implementations of closed loop cards, with the exception of Chicago’s Ventra card, support Apple’s Express Transit mode, which enables users to avoid authenticating themselves with Face or Touch ID or with passcodes. But Apple Pay users can use Express Pay if they pay fares with open-loop cards in Chicago, the only city of the four which also supports open-loop fare payments.
