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Near Field Communication and all contactless technology

NFC TIMES Exclusive – Large trip-planning app provider Moovit has enabled customers of more than 50 mostly small transit agencies in the U.S. to buy mobile tickets it its app, with more agencies to come, the company confirmed to Mobility Payments.

Google has finally enabled users to initiate purchases of public transit tickets from its Maps app, following delays. Meanwhile, rival trip-planning app providers Moovit and Transit have been quietly moving forward with signing up most of the same small U.S. transit agencies to sell tickets in their apps.

NFC Times Exclusive – The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority has issued a request for proposal with plans to launch an NFC pilot this year followed later by a rollout, putting the authority’s Mifare-based fare-collection application mainly on Android NFC phones.

As large transit authorities in the U.S. prepare deployments of open-loop fare collection, they say they still need progress from the payments industry to make those deployments successful.

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Isis Mobile Wallet users in and around Salt Lake City are tapping for transit fares with their NFC-enabled mobile phones more than 600 times a day and that number is climbing, said the Utah Transit Authority.

Chicago transit officials unveiled their planned open-loop fare-collection system, called Ventra, with plans to enable riders to tap to pay fares with contactless credit and debit cards, as well as reloadable MasterCard-branded prepaid cards.

Open-loop payment of transit fares continued to gain momentum with transit authorities in two large U.S. cities giving the green light to contract awards that will eventually enable riders to pay their fares directly with contactless bank cards and NFC phones.

The pilot will involve 20 Metropolitan Transportation Authority, MTA, employees, who will be able to tap NFC tags with Nokia smartphones upon entering and exiting train stations on one commuter line o