Publication Date: September 2018

• Download the white paper

The goal of the Transit Contactless Open Payments Working Committee is for interested stakeholders to work collaboratively to identify possible solutions that address the challenges associated with the implementation of contactless acceptance terminals at gated customer points of entry within the unique retail environment of the U.S. and Canadian public transit market.

The Working Committee is using a use case approach to identify specific scenarios and the challenges associated with those scenarios for transit merchants of contactless open payments acceptance in order to meet the following objectives of the Working Committee:

• Create and/or identify potential payment network-agnostic solutions that meet stakeholder needs and preferences for POE contactless payment card acceptance, for both attended and unattended terminals, specific to the distinct features of the transit retail environment.
  • Viable solutions will need to address acceptance challenges for mobile and other form factors that are valid contactless payment credentials that can be resolved through technical implementations.
  • Viable solutions will need to encompass acceptance of prepaid and gift cards, electronic benefit cards and transit-issued cards, along with credit and debit cards.
  • Areas that require a business solution(s) and best practices for resolving those business issues may be identified but will be out of scope for resolution as Working Committee activities.
• Understand each stakeholder group’s business needs and preferences for contactless payments acceptance at transit POEs.
• Understand the potential impact of identified solutions on each stakeholder group, including customers.

The scope for this paper is to identify and provide guidance for technological solutions that could be used to implement contactless open payments in transit using the Working Committee-defined Use Case 1 – Pay As You Go/ Card and Use Case 2 – Pay As You Go/Mobile Device. This use case is defined as follows:

• Use Case 1 – Pay As You Go/Card: The customer taps a contactless EMV card issued by a financial institution at the transit point of entry to pay for a single ride through a Pay As You Go transaction and gain access to the subway or bus. The customer taps in only. The customer must receive a go/no go type prompt within a sub-second.
• Use Case 2 – Pay As You Go/Mobile Device: The customer taps a mobile device at the point of entry to pay for a single ride through a Pay As You Go transaction and gain access to the subway or bus.  The customer taps in only.  The customer must receive a go/no go type prompt within a sub-second.

The white paper covers the following topics:

• Background on the transit environment
• Description of the two Pay As You Go use cases – with transit merchant, acquirer/processor and issuer requirements
• Technical functional proposal following the three pillars to secure a transaction: card authentication, cardholder verification and financial authorization

Business risks and challenges are out of scope. Additional use cases based on other scenarios outlined in the white paper are expected to be addressed by the Working Committee in future projects.

About the Transit Contactless Open Payments Working Committee

The goal of the Transit Contactless Open Payments Working Committee is for all interested stakeholders to work collaboratively to identify possible solutions that address the challenges associated with the implementation of contactless open loop acceptance terminals at gated customer points of entry within the unique retail environment of the U.S. and Canadian public transit market.

Please note: The information and materials available on this web page (“Information”) is provided solely for convenience and does not constitute legal or technical advice. All representations or warranties, express or implied, are expressly disclaimed, including without limitation, implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose and all warranties regarding accuracy, completeness, adequacy, results, title and non-infringement. All Information is limited to the scenarios, stakeholders and other matters specified, and should be considered in light of applicable laws, regulations, industry rules and requirements, facts, circumstances and other relevant factors. None of the Information should be interpreted or construed to require or promote the establishment of any solution, practice, configuration, rule, requirement or specification inconsistent with applicable legal requirements, any of which requirements may change over time. The U.S. Payments Forum assumes no responsibility to support, maintain or update the Information, regardless of any such change. Use of or reliance on the Information is at the user’s sole risk, and users are strongly encouraged to consult with their respective payment networks, acquirers, processors, vendors and appropriately qualified technical and legal experts prior to all implementation decisions.