Eftpos vendor Verifone says it is rolling out MasterCard's PayPass contactless payments system across all taxis licensed by the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA).
The PayPass roll out is part of a PPA project contracted with Transportation Systems, a joint venture of VeriFone and Taxitronic.
Passengers can pay their cab fare by tapping their PayPass-enabled card or device on a contactless reader attached to a VeriFone Omni 7000 payment system located in the back seat of the taxi. The payment system is networked to another VeriFone's MX870 system which is a multimedia device located in the driver cab that provides routing, navigation and other information.
VeriFone estimates that MasterCard PayPass cuts approximately 45 seconds off the transaction time in taxis when compared to cash, and 15 seconds when compared to swiping a traditional payment card.
TJ Sharkey, group head, national accounts, US commerce development, MasterCard Worldwide, says: "PayPass is a perfect solution for passengers who are in a hurry and want to get in and out of taxis as quickly as possible without having to fumble for cash or coins, or wait for drivers to make change."