SF's Transit System Offers Commuters Fast Access to Subways and Sandwiches

BART hopes that enabling riders to pay for fares with their phones will make commuting a more convenient, efficient mode of transportation, while also boosting its ridership. Participants in the EZ Rider card program like being able to load and reload value onto the card using a Web interface, the agency says, rather than having to wait in line at BART stations to load value onto paper tickets at crowded kiosks.

The NFC phone will keep participants out of those queues, and a cell phone is generally easier to pull out of a bag or pocket than a plastic card is to pick from a wallet; therefore, using the phone could shave off a few seconds spent getting through the turnstile—and a few seconds sometimes make the difference between catching and missing a train. What's more, BART consumes 32 million paper tickets each year. If payments made by NFC really took off and many BART users started using their phones to pay for fares, the transit agency could make significant reduction in ticket costs.

James Fang, BART's board director, uses an NFC-enabled phone to pay a fare.

Working with Jack in Box on the project paints NFC as a compelling technology not just for single uses, but for multiple ones—which could greatly reduce the number of cards or payment tickets commuters need to tote around in their wallets.

The participants each pay $45 to load up the BART debit account, and the agency is kicking in the last $3 as a fare discount. Those taking part in the trial will be able to setup their payment accounts so that when either the BART or Jack in the Box stored value on the phone falls below $10, the value on one or both accounts will be automatically refilled by pulling funds from the participant's debit or credit card. They'll also be able to check their available balances using the phone. First Data, a payment processing firm that facilitates merchants' ability to accept credit, debit, prepaid and loyalty cards, is providing the payment processing services for the trial.

For added security, participants can choose to set up a personal identification number that they'll need to key in before accessing the NFC functionality. Unless they choose to do so, however, they'll be able to just press one button to activate the NFC function, then hold the phone up to the payment terminal. If any participants lose their trial phones, they can contact Sprint to have the device deactivated.

In addition, the phones can download directions to the nearest Jack in the Box location, using an NFC smart poster inside the Powell Street BART station. To do this, participants can hold the phone up to an RFID tag embedded in the poster. The NFC module will collect a URL from the tag, and the phone's Web browser will call up the Web page for that URL to display the nearest restaurant location. Participants will use the phones to pay at Jack in the Box locations, simply by holding the phones close to the RFID readers that were installed at the restaurants nationwide in 2006 to enable acceptance of RFID-enabled credit cards. Once the transaction is complete, the clerk will then hand them a receipt for their order.