China Begins to Accept Visa and Mastercard for Open Loop, though Transactions are Expected to be Small
Seeking to promote more commerce from foreigners to help boost its sluggish economy, China, among other things, has opened up the market to foreign-branded bank cards for use with open-loop payments.
That move began Friday on the giant subway, in Beijing, which became the first city in China (outside of Hong Kong)
Unreachable Goal? Denmark Seeks Adoption Rate of 90% for Its National Mobile-Ticketing Services
It’s difficult for an agency retire a long-established closed-loop card, even one with an aging technology and which is expensive to maintain.
But that is precisely what transport officials in Denmark propose to do. And not with open-loop payments or other cards, but with what it hopes will be a wildly popular mobile-ticketing app.
Tip Sheet: Cubic Faces Major Test in Holding onto Sydney Fare Project; Rumors Say It May Partner with Another Major Vendor
With tenders due next month for Sydney’s much-anticipated Opal Next-Generation fare project, attention has turned to the fate of incumbent vendor Cubic Transportation Systems.
Cubic is not believed to be held in the highest regard by Transport for New South Wales, which is not an agency known for its loyalty to vendors. Sydney also is seen as wanting to take more control of its fare system, like Transport for London.
Montreal Transport Authority to Issue New RFP after Disappointing Results from Previous Tender Request
Montreal-area transport authority, Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain, or ARTM, plans to issue a new call for tenders in coming weeks for its planned account-based ticketing system after scrapping the previous tender request last month because of disappointing results, Mobility Payments has learned.
ARTM executive director for information technology, Sylvain Perras, told Mobility Payments the agency
Death of Dutch Prepaid Bank Card Deal Shows Concept is Difficult Proposition for Agencies
The recent break between Dutch transport-ticketing agency Translink Systems and Netherlands-based neobank bunq is another setback for the idea of using prepaid bank cards in place of closed-loop fare cards for agencies already offering open-loop payments.
Bunq faced a lot of restrictions in how it could profit from issuing the card, such as a ban on using
Open-Loop Payments: Are U.S. Transit Agencies Ready for the Costs?: A Discussion
A top official with Helsinki transport agency HSL made headlines over this past weekend, Aug. 31, when he was quoted as actually discouraging customers from using contactless open-loop payments when the agency launches the long-delayed service.
That’s according to Helsingin Sanomat, the main newspaper in the Finnish capital, which reported that the agency’s deputy CEO is instead steering riders toward HSL’s own mobile app because of higher costs for accepting debit and credit cards.
In-Depth: Possible Paperwork Error Holds Up Multimillion Euro Fare Project in Sweden
Did low-cost Czech vendor Mikroelektronika fail to adequately provide proof that it paid its taxes and fees for its tender in Sweden?
That seems to be the key issue holding up the awarding of a contract for a planned new open-loop fare system, including buying and installing 8,000 new validators
California Open-Loop Procurement Program Has Another Disappointing Quarter, with Low Orders and Adoption
Vendors with master service agreements under the California Integrated Travel Project, or Cal-ITP, received orders for validators of just under $70,000 combined, with gateway and inspection fees accounting for another $11,200.
The updated figures come from records obtained by Mobility Payments from the California Department of General Services.
U.S. Agency Capital Metro Set to Replace Incumbent with Cubic in ‘Emergency Procurement;’ Some Other Vendors Raise Questions
A recent decision by Austin, Texas, transit agency Capital Metro to award a contract to Cubic Transportation Systems for a new fare system is a big win for Cubic’s Umo platform, but the award is raising some questions among industry vendors over the way CapMetro has conducted the procurement, Mobility Payments has learned.
CapMetro officials, although they are believed to have heard presentations from a total of five fare-system vendors (see below), have yet to explain why they decided against holding a full procurement
Appeals Shake Up Procurement of New Fare System in Sweden’s No. 2 City
There may be a counter-appeal to a ruling last month by an administrative court in Sweden that nullified Czech Republic-based vendor Mikroelektronika’s expected award of a new fare system contract in Sweden’s No. 2 city, Gothenburg.
Mikroelektronika has likely filed the new appeal, disputing the Swedish court ruling July 9 that stripped