Transport

Public transport is the first significant application of contactless smart card. Major transit fare payment systems are moving toward contactless cards. In 2003, transport projects gather almost 70 million contactless and dual interface cards, mostly in Asia.

Here are the numerous benefits of the contactless smart carts for the transportation industry:

	Transaction speed: 150 milliseconds, significantly faster than magnetic tickets: It accelerates the access to platforms and vehicles
	Fraud protection: The maximum technological security reduces fraud (magnetic stripe easily duplicated
	Reliability of terminals: no mechanical parts means reduced investment and maintenance costs and higher resistance to environment, i.e. vibration, dust, etc.
	Unlimited capabilities and new service opportunities: Management of complex rules for fares and schedules allows for multi-applications: loyalty programs, targeted marketing and sales, e-purse for partnership with non-transit operators
	User friendly: No card introduction or card orientation, the card can even remain in the wallet

• Hong Kong Octopus: Oldest contactless transit card (1998). More than 9M cards in 2003 providing access to city metro, bus lines, tramway, commuter rail, but also widely used by retailers and for public telephones
  
  
• Seoul, Korea: World's largest contactless ticketing installation with over 15M cards and well over 50,000 reader terminals in use for bus, underground, parking, taxi and other loyalty applications
  
  
• Europe: Paris area’s Navigo card, Lisbon’s Otlis Card, Capri’s transit card, London’s Oyster Card, Dutch Trans Link, German VDV, English ITSO, Swiss EasyTicket, Danish Travel Card, city of Oslo public transportation card…
  
  
• United States: Washington SmarTrip, San Francisco Bay Area TransLink, Atanta’s MARTA…