It's long been understood that transit systems are fertile ground for payment innovations. Despite the years-long setbacks in updating some systems, the promise has always been that if people use a new payment format in their daily commutes, they will continue to use it at nearby merchants.
And when these transit fare systems invite open-loop cards they also have the potential to create a feeding frenzy among issuers that want to offer the go-to payment card for riders.
This topic will also be covered at SourceMedia's annual PayThink conference in Los Angeles during the Friday, September 20, session Transit Update: The Rails of Contactless Payments.
This story was compiled from reporting by PaymentsSource writers including John Adams, Kate Fitzgerald, David Heun, Michael Moeser and Daniel Wolfe.