n public transport applications, the trend is towards contactless cards used as passenger identification cards, pre-paid tokens, or electronic purses. These cards speed up and simplify processes, thereby boosting profitability for transport operators and making use of the service more convenient for passengers. The extreme robustness of the system is an added benefit.
Contactless memory cards
Because of their good price/performance ratio, memory cards are the most popular type of contactless chip cards in use today and will certainly be the first choice in most future mass transit applications. Contactless smart cards offer big gains in convenience and speed, because they are used in "touch and go" applications, meaning passengers do not stop to insert the card.
Benefits
The card holder benefits from the fast, user-friendly transactions that help to prevent waiting lines from building, e.g. at turnstiles in metro stations. This should boost use of public transport, with positive effects on revenue. At the same time, fare collection becomes more efficient. The highly automated systems save time and personnel costs. Additional savings result from the extremely low maintenance costs, since contactless systems have no moving parts.
