First Steps Made Toward a National Transit Card

The day is coming when a single contactless smart card will be available to pay fares on buses and subways in several U.S. cities. A specification has been developed to allow interoperability across transit systems. It also contains room for a separate electronic purse that could be used for payments at nontransit retail locations. This Regional Interoperability Specification was developed by the PATH system that operates trains between Manhattan and New Jersey under the umbrella of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. PATH will be the first operator to issue chip cards conforming to this specification. Robert Bernard, director of the office of regional smart card programs at the Port Authority, tells CardLine that PATH expects to issue 7,000 smart cards to employees and elderly riders next May and to introduce the card to other riders in fall 2005, with an initial order of 25,000 cards. He says PATCO, an operator of a rail line between Philadelphia and southern New Jersey, is likely to be the next operator to introduce chips cards complying with the specification and that other New York-area transit systems are expected to follow suit over the next several years. Meanwhile, the American Public Transit Association has adopted the Regional Interoperability Specification as the basis for its smart card standard due to be released in January. Bernard says such cities as Washington and Chicago that already let commuters pay with a wave of their contactless smart cards are considering moving to RIS-compliant cards. That would allow, for example, a card issued by the Chicago Transit Authority to pay fares on the Washington Metro.