Hands free payment on buses and trains

Singaporeans will one day be able to travel without having to touch in at ticket barriers. The Land Transport Authority has issued a request for information for suppliers to show how commuters could be charged automatically.

“Our vision for the future is a fare payment system where technology will help us detect and automatically register commuters in a bus or train, so long as the commuter has the fare card somewhere on him,” Chew Men Leong, LTA Chief Executive said.

“With this, the commuter will enjoy greater convenience and will not need to tap in and out to register his [or her] trip on public transport”. Commuters currently need to use cards to enter and exit public transport. If they forget to do so when exiting a bus, they will continue to be charged and pay for a longer journey.

LTA is also testing wearables to pay for transport. 200 people have been given wristbands to trial from 31 August 2015 to 29 February 2016.

New technologies like Apple Pay and Visa Paywave allow citizens to pay for goods by tapping their smartphone or credit card against a reader. Singapore hopes to take the technology a step further, because service users will not need to display their payment devices from their pocket or bag. The LTA wants information from suppliers by 29 February 2016.

Image above by Flickr user digitalpimp; licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.