# Does any other public transit system in the USA accept contactless cards for payment? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 5, 2019, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-other-public-transit-system-in-the-usa-accept-contactless-cards-for-payment/836592 "2019-07-05T20:46:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Weedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/weedy/32/301_2.png) [@Weedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weedy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-other-public-transit-system-in-the-usa-accept-contactless-cards-for-payment/836592/21 "2019-07-06T23:39:18Z")
Sydney (Australia) uses Opal cards, but you can also tap on and off with your credit card or phone. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2019, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-other-public-transit-system-in-the-usa-accept-contactless-cards-for-payment/836592/22 "2019-07-06T23:44:45Z")
Portland [Hop Fastpass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hop_Fastpass) card. You can have either an actual scan card or use your smart phone. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2019, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-other-public-transit-system-in-the-usa-accept-contactless-cards-for-payment/836592/23 "2019-07-07T18:39:31Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Portland [Hop Fastpass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hop_Fastpass) card. You can have either an actual scan card or use your smart phone. This is the one I was going to mention. To clarify you don’t need a special card. Just the Apple Pay setup with your regular credit card works. It’s seriously convenient for visitors and tourists. And it automatically converts to the daily pass once you hit $5 worth of fares in a day. My only minor suggestion would be to allow for paying for multiple people, like when you’re traveling with your kid, but that’d probably make the process less seamless. ---
**Author:** ![velomont](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/8491ac/32.png) [@velomont](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velomont)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-other-public-transit-system-in-the-usa-accept-contactless-cards-for-payment/836592/24 "2019-07-08T14:58:25Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > Lots of them: The Clipper card has been mentioned. In Los Angeles there is the Tap card. New York is in the process of switching from MetroCards to a new contactless card called Omny. > > Around the world it’s extremely common. In London it’s Oyster. In Montreal it’s Opus. In Hong Kong its Octopus. In Tokyo it’s Pasmo/Suica. > > Transit systems around the world are switching to them because they work much better for everybody. …and in Abu Dhabi it’s the Hafilat card ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2019, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-other-public-transit-system-in-the-usa-accept-contactless-cards-for-payment/836592/25 "2019-07-08T17:12:00Z")
As has been mentioned, the Boston Charliecard is contactless, but you can’t always get a Charliecard – sometimes you purchase a magnetized ticket that has to be inserted into a slot. If you can get to a place where they sell the Charleycards, you can keep adding value to it. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-other-public-transit-system-in-the-usa-accept-contactless-cards-for-payment/836592/26 "2019-07-10T04:08:20Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I was actually thinking about this earlier today. Many parking lots now allow you to simply swipe a credit card on the way in and swipe the same card on the way out, as opposed to taking a ticket. It tracks how long you parked by remembering your card number. I don’t see why a transit system like BART couldn’t do something similar and track what station you entered and exited at based on a credit card number. I know someone who used this system at the SFO airport short-term parking garage. One day she used her credit card to check into the lot. She was parked for an hour or two. Something went wrong and the system failed and after a huge line of cars formed trying to get out, they finally opened all the gates and let everyone who was waiting out for free. Well, she went back about a month later and used the same credit card. When trying to exit, the system tried to charge her card $5000, apparently thinking she had parked for a month. Checking in a second time didn’t cancel the original charge. Fortunately, the bank declined the charge. She had to call someone over the intercom to let her out. After about 10 minutes they finally let her out without charge. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-other-public-transit-system-in-the-usa-accept-contactless-cards-for-payment/836592/27 "2019-07-10T04:32:54Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I don’t see why a transit system like BART couldn’t do something similar and track what station you entered and exited at based on a credit card number. Apple Pay wouldn’t work though since it doesn’t transmit your actual account number but rather a code that changes with each transaction. When you add a new card to your phone, Apple Pay obtains a more-or-less permanent number called a Device Account Number (“DAN”) which does not change with each transaction. It obtains this number from the card issuer. Then each time you use this card through Appple Pay on your phone, it transmits the same DAN. See: [How Apple Pay Works Under the Hood](https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-apple-pay-works-under-the-hood-8c3978238324/). The only danger is if you lose your phone or reset the software for some reason, the DAN might get reset. As a matter of fact, the Chicago system has a feature that does depend on the Apple Pay DAN being constant each time you pay with the same credit card. It allows you to pick a card (any card) that’s loaded on Apple Pay and “load” a daily, weekly, or monthly pass to it. This differs from paying for single rides by charging them directly to the credit card. It relies on the fact that the DAN will not change each time you use the same card on Apple Pay. In fact the Chicago system can keep track of “transfers” using Apple Pay ([this is new](https://www.ventrachicago.com/how-to/mobile-wallet-apps/)). The first ride is $2.50 but the second ride within two hours is just an additional 25 cents. It relies on the fact that the same DAN is sent each time the same card is used with Apple Pay. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-other-public-transit-system-in-the-usa-accept-contactless-cards-for-payment/836592/28 "2019-07-10T10:50:27Z")
> [@WildaBeast](#): > > I don’t see why a transit system like BART couldn’t do something similar and track what station you entered and exited at based on a credit card number. Apple Pay wouldn’t work though since it doesn’t transmit your actual account number but rather a code that changes with each transaction. But I could imagine something like a Clipper Card app that uses the same NFC technology as Apple Pay, allowing you to simply tap your phone at the fare gate. Apple Pay does work, just fine. The London Underground lets you use either the proprietary contactless cards (Oyster), or contactless debit/credit cards, or Apple Pay, and automatically works out the correct fare. So it doesn’t charge you on each journey; instead you get a charge going through at the end of the day, which will be the equivalent of a day travelcard if that is cheaper than the cost of the individual journeys you made. Likewise there is a weekly fare cap, so if the system detects that you’ve been charged more than that in a given week, you get refunded automatically. On older phones with Touch ID, it was easy to hold your phone against the reader with your thumb in place, but Face ID makes that less simple. There’s an option in iOS to allow one card to be used without Face ID confirmation, for transit systems like this, but AFAIK London Underground [doesn’t support that yet](https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT207958). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-other-public-transit-system-in-the-usa-accept-contactless-cards-for-payment/836592/29 "2019-07-10T14:41:25Z")
I know the Cleveland transit system has a phone app that you can use to pay (and several other cities, because the same app has a couple dozen different re-brandings for different systems). I’ve never gotten it because it’s horrible malicious spyware, but I _think_ that you use it by bringing up the app on your phone and showing the driver the screen. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-other-public-transit-system-in-the-usa-accept-contactless-cards-for-payment/836592/30 "2019-07-10T15:09:21Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > The CTA in Chicago allows you to pay for rides on trains and busses using a contactless card or Apple Pay/Android Pay. This also works in London, UK. > > In Washington DC, at least as of January, you still needed a SmarTrip card for the Metro. I have leftover cards as well from NYC and Boston. It’s been a while since I’ve been to Philadelphia, but I remember having to use some sort of a transit card there as well. > > Obviously, the transit systems make money on leftover fare money as well as cards that get lost. But, it would seem to speed things up if transit systems allowed payment via a contactless card or phone pay. I’m not sure why the DC Metro SmarTrip is not considered “contactless”. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-other-public-transit-system-in-the-usa-accept-contactless-cards-for-payment/836592/31 "2019-07-10T15:20:27Z")
The OP never clarified what they meant exactly. Some folks are interpreting this as simply a propriety transit card with its own balance (e.g. ORCA here in Seattle, Clipper in SF, etc.). These are usually “contactless” in that you just put them in proximity of the reader. I think its very common for transit agencies in the US to have some sort of system like this. The other interpretation (the one I assumed) is that they’re asking about accepting the generic contactless system (e.g. a contactless Visa / MC or a credit card setup with Apple Pay). This seems rarer in the US. Chicago seems to be an example. Portland is the one I know. I agree that it is very convenient, especially for visitors. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2019, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-other-public-transit-system-in-the-usa-accept-contactless-cards-for-payment/836592/32 "2019-07-10T15:48:18Z")
When this first rolled out in Chicago, there was a fun period where people put their transit cards in their wallet or whatever and when they scanned the wallet, the 1 or 2 other contactless cards in the wallet were also charged. I’m not sure if/how they fixed this. I always keep my ‘Ventra’ card separate from any other cards. I think they at least put a delay in the system so that 3 cards wouldn’t scan nearly simultaneously on the same reader. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-any-other-public-transit-system-in-the-usa-accept-contactless-cards-for-payment/836592.md?page=1)