The Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) launched its new Tap & Ride pilot program, allowing passengers to pay their bus fare by tapping their Visa or Mastercard debit or credit cards, and by using their mobile wallet.
The program will be available at contactless payment readers on River Valley Transit and CTtransit’s – the state’s primary public transportation provider – Meriden Division buses.
Touchless fares mark a major step forward in the state’s modernization efforts for public transit, CTDOT noted, adding that no downloads or signups are necessary for passengers to access the service.
“We are excited to support the Connecticut Department of Transportation on this effort, a key project to modernize and improve the transit experience for riders in this community,” Ben Levine, the deputy assistant secretary for research and technology at the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT), said in a statement.
Funded through a $2 million Stage 1 grant offered by the USDOT’s Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation (SMART) grant program, CTDOT is eligible to receive additional funding through a Stage 2 SMART grant to expand the project.
The SMART program’s first batch of funding totaling $94 million in grant awards was announced in early 2023 by U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and was allocated across 59 projects in 33 states.
“Contactless payments have become a part of everyday life. We want our transit customers to have a quick and convenient experience when it comes to paying fares, one that doesn’t require them to have exact change or even download a mobile app,” said Benjamin Limmer, the bureau chief of public transportation at CDOT. “Thank you to the USDOT for funding this pilot project, which will help Connecticut test this technology out with customers and develop our roadmap for a large-scale implementation of contactless payments across all bus services in the state.”
Other recent steps toward modernizing the state’s transport systems include a $291 million grant from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law which was received in November by CTDOT and Amtrak, who will use the funding to improve railroads at five different sites across Connecticut.
