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Publications – Transportation

• A Guide to Prepaid Cards for Transit Agencies
  This white paper was developed by the Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council to provide an overview of the prepaid card industry and the products available, including network-branded prepaid cards. It is directed to readers who work for or support transit agencies. The paper provides guidance on what transit agencies should look for when evaluating the feasibility and benefits of using prepaid cards as one element of an open loop fare collection system. The paper also provides useful information to other members of the prepaid card industry who have an interest in collaborating with the mass transit industry to expand the use of prepaid cards. Download white paper. View full executive summary.

• Co-Branded Multi-Application Contactless Cards for Transit and Financial Payment
  This white paper provides an overview of an approach for transit/financial payment convergence that leverages co-branding card business models and the multi-application capabilities provided by smart card technology. Download report. View full executive summary.

• Contactless Smart Chip Technology: The Business Benefits
  This briefing provides an overview of why businesses are implementing contactless smart chip technology in broadly different environments and applications both within the United States and around the world. Download briefing. View full briefing.

• Hong Kong Octopus Card Profile
  This profile describes the Hong Kong Octopus card launched in 1997 as an electronic purse for public transportation. Download profile.

• London Oyster Card Profile
  This profile describes the London Oyster Card program. Download profile.

• Near Field Communication (NFC) and Transit: Applications, Technology and Implementation Considerations
  This white paper was developed by the Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council to discuss mobile applications that are relevant to the transit industry and to provide an overview of the benefits and implementation considerations for NFC applications. Download white paper. View full executive summary.

• Planning for New Fare Payment and Collection Systems: Cost Considerations and Procurement Guidelines
  This white paper was developed by the Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council to present a conventional approach for planning, conducting a cost analysis, and procuring a new fare payment system or upgrading an existing system. Additionally, a cost model is presented that allows the user to input an agency’s current fare payment and fare collection costs and compare them to the costs for proposed alternative systems. The cost model is available as an Excel workbook and provides an interactive tool for agencies to use to assess different fare payment system alternatives. Download white paper. View full executive summary.

• San Francisco Bay Area TransLink Profile
  This profile describes San Francisco Bay Area TransLink pilot. Download profile. View all profiles.

• Serving Unbanked Consumers in the Transit Industry with Prepaid Card
  The Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council developed this white paper to provide the transit and financial industries with an educational overview of the various methods available for providing and re-loading fare media to individuals who do not have credit or debit cards, nor checking or savings accounts, and generally lack relationships with traditional banking institutions. Download white paper. View full executive summary.

• Smart Cards and Parking
  This white paper was developed by the Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council to provide the parking industry with an overview of the technology and trends in the smart card marketplace and to provide the transit industry with an overview of the parking industry market and use of smart cards. Download white paper. View full executive summary.

• Transit and Contactless Open Payments: An Emerging Approach for Fare Collection
  This white paper was developed by the Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council to inform the transit industry of the opportunities, benefits and challenges of accepting contactless open bank cards for fare payment and to inform the bank card industry of unique requirements for transit fare collection. Download white paper. View full executive summary.

• Transit and Retail Payment: Opportunities for Collaboration and Convergence
  Developed for decision-makers in transit agencies and potential transit agency partners, this report describes the potential opportunities for collaboration on a combined transit-retail payment card. The report discusses transit payment using contactless smart cards, the status of smart cards and contactless payment for financial/retail payment in the U.S., scenarios and opportunities for collaboration, and key considerations/issues for transit-retail payment convergence. The report includes profiles of several U.S. and international contactless transit smart card implementations that are extending the use of the smart card beyond transit payment to other applications. Download report. View full executive summary.

• Transit Payment System Cost Model
  The Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council Merchant created an Excel model to assist transit agencies in comparing costs of current and new transit payments systems. The model’s overall purpose is to provide a tool for transit agencies to examine the near- and long-term cost implications of purchasing new fare payment equipment and of adopting different technology alternatives. Download model.

• Transit Payment System Security
  The Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council developed this white paper to outline the approaches that the transit industry uses throughout payment systems to ensure the security of transactions and data and to discuss recent research on one contactless chip product that is used in many transit AFC systems. Download white paper. View full executive summary.

• Ventura County Transit Smart Card Profile
  This profile describes Ventura County Transit smart card. Download profile. View all profiles.

• Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA)–SmarTrip Profile
  This profile describes WMATA SmartTrip program. Download profile. View all profiles.