by Ross Mathis, Contributing Editor, AVISIAN Publications

As part of a green initiative, and to compliment its new arena opening in late March, the Major League Soccer Red Bull team of New York has incorporated a new paperless ticketing system with the aid of contactless smart card technology.

The new system is designed to improve the customers’ experience and increase the speed of entering the arena, the smart cards will serve dual purposes - granting both arena access and purchase power at concessions and merchandise locations. The effort also reduces paper use by storing the ticket on the card instead of printing them.

Special turnstiles equipped with both smart card and bar code readers will be utilized to validate each of the cards authenticity and grant entry to the arena. In the beginning smart cards will only be issued to season ticket holders. Paper printed, bar code tickets will still be issued to fans who purchase single game admission. ▸

sQuid has announced the launch of its new smart card-based loyalty program for businesses wishing to implement contactless payment technology.

The program provides customers with an online account where they can view their transactions, as well as keep track of their loyalty funds, which are protected with a central host system. ▸

Poland’s Citi Handlowy has begun issuing Citi Handlowy MasterCard PayPass contactless debit cards, according to istockanalyst.com.

Citi Handlowy clients can now exchange their existing debits cards for contactless cards free of charge by calling CitiPone or sending a request through Citibank Online. ▸

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The Smart Card Alliance announced transit agencies across the United States are in the beginning stages of upgrading fare collection systems. The Transportation Council, made up of representatives including ACS, A Xerox Company, Booz Allen Hamilton, Cubic, The Garback Group, Giesecke & Devrient, INSIDE Contactless, JPMorgan Chase and Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, has produced white papers to instruct transit agencies how to effectively make changes.

The first white paper illustrates the planning, cost analysis, and implementation of a new fare payment system or the upgrading an existing system. ▸

The South Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) is indefinitely delaying deployment of a smart card-based transit system due to inadequate funding, according to metro.us.

SEPTA will not receive the $110 million in Act 44 state funding next year needed to deploy the system. Furthermore, SEPTA said it will have to impose a 5 to 6 percent fare hike to make up the difference, raising the cost of a token from $1.45 to $1.53.

Read more here  

ABI Research has released a report predicting substantial growth for the global contactless payments market, according to squidcard.com.

The U.S.-based independent research firm expects point of sale contactless payment applications to grow 19% annually through to 2014. ▸