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Most transit authorities in the U.S. use proprietary, closed-loop systems for payment transactions in buses and trains. While these systems have been the standard for decades, most of them were implemented at a time when there was no real alternative. In the last few years, however, many transit authorities have begun to realize the benefits of new technologies such as contactless and mobile payment, which, along with open industry standards, have enabled open-loop payment processing on a massive scale.
Open-loop systems move payment processing over to the open market, allowing payments to be processed by major financial networks such as Visa and MasterCard and preventing the inflexibility of being locked into using long-term payment vendors. This allows transit agencies to save money on proprietary fare media, payment technologies and manpower, letting them focus more resources on their actual transportation services themselves. These systems also have a number of convenience benefits for passengers, who are becoming more and more comfortable using their credit or debit cards at transit terminals.
Despite the benefits, however, it may seem dauntingly expensive and time-consuming to implement an open-loop system that accepts all types of payment and ticketing standards. Luckily, FEIG Electronics’ cVEND technology allows transit authorities to upgrade their existing payment structure without requiring a complete overhaul.
FEIG Electronics offers a product designed to meet every consideration of transit payment systems. The cVEND device can accommodate both primary types of contactless payment system in use today: the closed-loop system that accepts prepaid tickets or loyalty cards, and the open-loop system that uses bank credit cards, prepaid debit cards or similar payment methods. With this flexible platform, cVEND offers a secure, reliable payment solution for mobile and self-service ticketing, cashless parking applications, loyalty programs and NFC payments, regardless of the mobile device platform.
cVEND can be integrated into your current system to painlessly expand the types of payments you can accept. This allows you to move on to next-generation transit payment types while still supporting your closed-loop system. Implementing cVEND into your structure allows you to accept payments from:
cVEND complies with all transit standards and is PCI, EMVCo Level 1 and 2 certified, allowing for contactless payments in addition to chip payments when integrated with a third party chip card reader. cVEND also has an easy to use reader interface and makes use of one of the most fraud-proof payment mechanisms available: tokenized payment data. cVEND is the only component-level device available that is both EMV and PCI certified for maximum security.
cVEND’s software architecture provides system integrators with a variety of interface options. Such flexibility is an innovative concept that allows an integrator to use the platform as a foundation to upgrade existing installations with capability to expand with the needs of future requirements, considerably reducing deployment time.
Furthering the concept of flexibility, cVEND has a secure embedded Linux operating system running on an attack-resistant processor with real-time encryption. FEIG offers a fully supported, high-level software development kit (SDK) and an easy to use application program interface (API) to access hardware features, card interfaces, payment transactions and data exchange. Integrators can develop open and/or closed-loop payment applications to run directly on the device, eliminating the cost associated with additional hardware. This has the added benefit of reducing transaction time by avoiding latency created between terminal and host communications.
FEIG will partner with system integrators to deliver a cVEND solution that meets unique needs, allowing the system to accept multiple different payment methods and freeing transit systems from restrictive, proprietary payment systems.
When it comes to efficient transit operations and customer convenience, speed is a top priority. cVEND exceeds the EMV level 1 specification for contactless card detection, allowing payments to be taken in a matter of milliseconds. This transaction speed prevents long lines and backups in customer boarding.
With the flexibility to accept open loop payment methods, passengers have the freedom and convenience to use NFC based, mobile payment apps saving time by eliminating the need to purchase and keep track of separate closed loop tokens, paper tickets, or mag-stripe or contactless cards. In addition the terminal would also accept a future possibility of contactless bank cards. These conveniences improve the experience of existing customers and can potentially attract new customers to begin using transit.
Contact FEIG Electronics for more information about how cVEND can allow you to begin accepting next-generation transit payment types quickly and easily.