Port Authority, NJ Transit, MTA, MasterCard team up for fare cards

Customers on the Port Authority's PATH rail system now can simply "tap and go" with their credit cards, under a regional six-month pilot program that began today. Eleven of PATH's 13 stations (except the Christopher and 9th street stations) have been equipped with special payment readers, allowing riders to tap a contactless credit card or other device like a key fob to pay fares.

The Port Authority is
partnering with NJ Transit, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, along
with MasterCard Worldwide, to help test seamless travel using one card on the
three agencies’ trains and buses in New York and New Jersey. PATH riders can
switch to three NJ Transit bus lines and the Lexington Avenue subway lines, as
well as eight MTA bus routes via MasterCard’s PayPass card.

Goals include improving
convenience and speed for transit riders and helping to ultimately determine
whether such a system is feasible throughout each agency’s transit system.
Participating customers will not have to use cash or fare cards from multiple
agencies and will not have to wait in line at ticket machines.

MasterCard PayPass will
have an exclusive two-month window to test the system, which then also will be
opened to other contactless bank card customers for the pilot’s final four
months.

"PATH is a natural fit for
testing innovations such as MasterCard PayPass that can help customers travel
seamlessly between mass-transit systems in New York and New Jersey,” said Port
Authority Chairman Anthony Coscia. "This program aligns with our interest in
simplifying fare payment, increasing capacity and ultimately attracting more
customers to the region’s mass-transit systems."

Contactless cards already
have proven popular on PATH, which offers its own, state-of-the-art SmartLink
Card featuring an embedded computer chip that tracks the number of PATH trips
available or travel days remaining for a customer. Sales of SmartLink Cards for
travel on PATH has hit a record, jumping to more than 50-percent of market
share on the rail line.

Under the pilot program
with MasterCard, customers may select from pre-funding or pay-as-you-go
options.

Last year alone, PATH
handled nearly 73 million customers. The rail system, which the Port Authority
acquired in 1962, is in the midst of a multi-billion dollar modernization that
will result in an entirely new 340-car fleet of rail cars, a computerized
signal system and upgraded train stations.