NFC And Contactless Mobile Projects

Istanbul

Turkey: Visa and Akbank to Launch Trial of Contactless microSDs
Akbank customers will be able to insert the contactless microSDs into their BlackBerrys with appropriate slots to tap to pay at payWave...

Nanjing and Jiangsu province

China: No. 3 Mobile Operator Rolls Out SIMs with Flexible Antennas
China’s major fixed-line telco and third largest mobile operator is rolling out SIM cards with flexible antennas in Nanjing and other...

Istanbul, other cities

Turkey: Group Plans Multibank NFC Trial with Multiple Secure Elements
Much-delayed trial will bring together six banks and one mobile operator for contactless payment using applications from both Visa and...

Sitges

Spain: Country's Largest Telco Plans Big Payment Trial
The planned six-month “Mobile Shopping” trial is set to enable 1,500 customers of Telefónica and La Caixa bank to tap to pay at 500 shops...

Melbourne and Sydney

Australia: Telstra and NAB Hold Pay-Buy Mobile Trial
Small three-month trial, held among employees of the organizers, was one of about a dozen Pay-Buy Mobile projects backed by the GSM...

Madrid

Spain: Bank Mobile Virtual Network Operator to Launch Trial
Spanish bank Bankinter plans to enable a small number of employees and perhaps some of their family mem

Chicago and Salt Lake City

U.S.: Discover Pursues Contactless-Mobile Strategy With Sticker Trial
The trial puts Discover’s contactless Zip credit application on the embedded chip of passive stickers, which employees can attach to their...

Singapore

Singapore: First Trial Combining NFC and FeliCa
Six-month trial enabled users to tap their phones to pay on 20,000 terminals, wherever Singapore’s transit purse, ez-link, was accepted.
Singapore: SingTel Trial Enables OTA Reloads of NETS Purse
The six-month payment and couponing trial enabled subscribers to tap to pay with a contactless e-purse from bank-owned payment company...

HEADLINE NEWS

Australian Transit Agency to Launch Mobility-as-a-Service Trial as It Pursues Long-Term MaaS Strategy

Plans by Transport for New South Wales, Australia’s largest transit agency, to launch a trial enabling users to plan, book and pay for multimodal rides is the next step toward the agency’s long-ter

Updated: U.S. Transit Agency Seeks to Reduce–Though Not Eliminate–Cash Acceptance with New Fare-Collection System

Updated: The Spokane Transit Authority in Washington state confirmed that its new fare-collection system will include contactless open-loop payments–with a beta test planned for next October, a spokesman told NFC Times' sister publication Mobility Payments.

UK Government Seeks to Bring London-Style Contactless Fare Payments System to Other Regions

The UK government’s plan to equip 700 rail stations over the next three years to accept contactless open-loop payments is a major initiative, as it seeks to replicate the success of London’s contactless pay-as-you go fare payments system elsewhere in the country–a goal that has proved elusive in the past.

More Cities in Finland Expected to Move to Open-Loop Fare Payments

A fourth city in Finland is beginning to roll out contactless open-loop payments, with “more in the pipeline,” according to one supplier on the project, making the Nordic country one of the latest hotspots for the technology.

Moscow Metro Expands Test of ‘Virtual Troika’ in Pays Wallets, as It Continues to Develop Digital-Payments Services

Moscow Metro is recruiting more users to test its “Virtual Troika” card in two NFC wallets, those supporting Google Pay and Samsung Pay, as one of the world’s largest subway operators continues to seek more ways for its customers to pay for rides.

Ohio Transit Agency Expects Significant Revenue Loss as it Builds Equity with Fare Capping

The Central Ohio Transit Authority, or COTA, officially launched its new digital-payments service Monday, including a fare-capping feature that the agency estimates will cost it $1.8 million per year in lost fare revenue, the agency confirmed to Mobility Payments.

Special Report: Interest Grows in ‘White-Label EMV’ for Closed-Loop Transit Cards

As more transit agencies introduce open-loop fare payments, interest is starting to grow in use of white-label EMV cards that agencies can issue in place of proprietary closed-loop cards for riders who don’t have bank cards or don’t want to use them to pay fares.

Swedish Transit Agency Launches Express Mode Feature for Apple Pay, though Most Ticketing Still with Barcode-Based App

Skånetrafiken, the transit agency serving one of Sweden’s largest counties, announced today it has expanded its contactless open-loop payments service to include the Express Mode feature for Apple Pay.

Major Bus Operators in Hong Kong Now Accepting Open-Loop Payments–Adding More Competition for Octopus

Two more bus operators in Hong Kong on Saturday launched acceptance of open-loop contactless fare payments, with both also accepting QR code-based mobile ticketing–as the near ubiquitous closed-loop Octopus card continues to see more competition.

Moscow Metro Launches Full Rollout of ‘Face Pay;’ Largest Biometric Payments Service of Its Kind

Touting it as the largest rollout of biometric payments in the world, Moscow Metro launched its high-profile “Face Pay” service Friday, as expected, and predicted that 10% to 15% would regularly us

Indonesian Capital Seeks to Expand to Multimodal Fare Collection and MaaS

Indonesia’s capital Jakarta, whose metropolitan area is home to more than 30 million people, is notorious for its stifling traffic congestion. In response, the government metro and light-rail networks and now it is funding an expansion of the fare-collection system to enable more multimodal payments and to build a mobility-as-a-service platform.

Exclusive: NFC Wallets Grow as Share of Contactless Fare Payments and Not Only Because of Covid

Transit agencies that have rolled out open-loop contactless payments are seeing growing use of NFC wallets to pay fares, as Covid-wary passengers see convenience in tapping their phones or wearables to pay.