Transportation Official: Utah’s Reloadable Prepaid Transit Card Gaining Popularity (Feb. 6, 2014)
The Utah Transit Authority’s (UTA) prepaid reloadable contactless FAREPAY card in Salt Lake City, supported by InComm, appears to be a hit with riders, as one of several promising new mass-transit payment options around the U.S., Michael Dinning, director of transportation logistics and security for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Volpe National Transportation Systems Center, told attendees Feb. 5 at the Smart Card Alliance’s Payments Summit. “Transportation may be the killer app . . . as we give consumers more choices in the way they pay for daily transit rides, tolls and parking,” Dinning said. The UTA in October began a gradual rollout in the local market of its closed-loop FAREPAY card, which riders may use to tap and pay on all Salt Lake City-area trains and buses. FAREPAY cards are sold at UTA service centers and InComm also supports distribution at 200 local retail outlets, including Walgreens, Walmart and 7-Eleven. Riders pay a one-time $3 fee for the card and may load between $5 and $500 to the card online or with cash at participating retailers. Customers who register their FAREPAY cards online receive a 20 percent discount on regular train and bus routes in a promotion that will continue at least into March.
“Pushing the card out into retail channels has been very successful so far,” Michael Herold, InComm vice president of business development, tells Paybefore. InComm sees significant promise in its transit-payment initiative, he noted. Last month, InComm’s SunPass Prepaid Toll Program with the state of Florida was named a 2014 Paybefore Awards winner.
