Canadian Transit Agencies Move to Enable Domestic Debit but Open Loop Expected to Continue to Take Back Seat
Montréal-area transit operator STL this month officially launched its open-loop payments service–one of the few in Canada and the largest project outside of Vancouver.
Transit Agency: High Bank Card Fees Would Limit Open-Loop Rollouts in U.S.
A top revenue manager for Sacramento Regional Transit, the agency serving California’s capital city, said he believes there won’t be widespread rollouts of open-loop payments in California or throughout the U.S. until payments networks and banks reduce fees for agencies to accept debit and credit cards.
Transport for London Sees Open-Loop Revenue Return to Pre-Pandemic Levels
Contactless open-loop payments revenue has already returned to pre-pandemic levels in London, despite ridership on the London Underground still around one-third lower than in 2019 and bus ridership down by around 20%.
Exclusive: Flowbird CEO Says He’s Confident of Winning Business in California Despite Exclusion from Cal-ITP
The CEO of France-based ticketing and fare-payments provider Flowbird said the company will continue to pursue business in California for its open-loop technology despite not being selected for an open-loop contract by the state of California.
Exclusive: French Cities Make Move to Open-Loop Payments, Though Paris Holds Back
France had fallen behind such open-loop payments hotspots in Europe as the UK and Italy. But it has been catching up over the past couple of years, starting with small to medium-sized cities.
Houston Metro Approves Expensive Contract Option to Continue to Accept Cash on Board Buses
While Houston Metro, a large public bus agency in the U.S., plans to introduce open-loop payments as part of an account-based ticketing system now being built for it, the agency has no plans to phase out cash acceptance on board its more than 1,200 buses, a spokeswoman confirmed to Mobility Payments.
Visa Quietly Lowers Interchange for Transit Agencies in California but Scope of Reductions Limited So Far
Visa has quietly introduced a new interchange category for transit agencies in California, Mobility Payments has learned. If rolled out nationally and across more card types, the changes could substantially reduce the high fees that agencies pay to accept credit and debit cards for fares.
California’s ‘Mobility Marketplace’ Officially Open for Business; Vendors Offer Range of Prices and Integration Levels
California’s “Mobility Marketplace,” which aims to sell transit agencies in the state and beyond the core components they need build open-loop fare-collection systems, is now open for business.
Stockholm Transit Agency Sees Strong Growth in Open-Loop Payments During First Year of Service
Nearly a year after Storstockholms Lokaltrafik, or SL, in Stockholm launched open-loop payments for its multimodal transport network, the agency was seeing around 15% of its total fare revenue coming from contactless EMV payments, according to figures obtained by Mobility Payments.
California Open-Loop Program Chief: Transit Agencies Should Stop Thinking They Need to Create a ‘Separate Currency’
Gillian Gillett, manager for the California Integrated Mobility program in the state Department of Transportation, once observed that 97% of Californians never even think about using public transit. “I mean, if we were a business, we would be out of business,” she sighed.