New York City’s Metropolitan Transit Authority has announced a request for proposals to replace its current MetroCard system with a new contactless system, opening the door to smartphone compatibility such as Apple Pay or other NFC-based mobile payment technologies.
The MTA hopes to begin rolling out the new system in mid-2018, joining a number of other transit systems in the US and other countries that accept “contactless” cards and thus NFC-based smartphone payment systems for their cards.
In North America, only the NYC system and Mexico City’s transit system do not already have a contactless “tap to pay” system in place for ticket buying among the 10 busiest transit systems.
