(Image and video courtesy of Mashable)
If you need more evidence that we’re living in the future, check out the video below from Visa, who has started a test program in New York City which allows subway riders to pay their fares with nothing more than your iPhone.
Mashable is reporting that New York City is the latest hot spot getting a pilot program to test out Visa’s payWave system using the iPhone. With the New York City Transit, NJ Transit and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey all on board, it means that you can now pay your subway, bus and train fares right from the iPhone itself -- no cash, plastic or Metro card required.
Visa’s demo video shows that travelers pass by the payment terminal with a simple wave of their device in front of a contact-free reader. The payWave system requires the smartphone to be equipped with a sensor in order to transmit the payment information, and Visa is also working with Bank of America to expand the system to other retailers in New York City as well.
If you don’t happen to live or work in Manhattan, fear not: Visa is currently working with the L.A. Metro to expand the trial to the west coast, using TAP ReadyCARD dual-use prepaid Visa cards, which act as both transit tickets and Visa debit cards (no iPhone use there just yet, it appears). Visa payWave is already international, with the payment processor already installing the technology in Kuala Lampur, Singapore, Paris, Istanbul and London.
For now, the New York City subway test is only installed at 28 stops along the Lexington line, but a successful trial period will likely expand its reach to even more places in the future.
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