Port Authority To Start Testing Mobile Ticketing App
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - The Port Authority is beginning to test hardware that will let customers pay their bus fare from their smartphones.
The upcoming mobile fare application is expected to be released later this year. According to Port Authority, some of its stakeholders and employees are going to be testing out hardware that goes along with the pay-by-smartphone app.
The app would give customers a way to purchase tickets straight from their phone with a credit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay. The ticket would then be immediately available.
Fifty buses on seven different routes will get to see the testing process.
If you ride the 1, 16, 41, 91, G3, G31 or O12 you will begin seeing new devices installed on some buses over the next few weeks. These are for our mobile fare payment app. Testing will be primarily employees only at first with a broader public pilot later this year.
— Port Authority PGH (@PGHtransit) January 17, 2020
After that phase is over, the Port Authority will give London-based technology company Masabi the thumbs up to ship and install the hardware on the Port Authority's fleet of 720 buses, 80 light rail cars and two inclines.
Then the public will get to test out the hardware before the app's release.
The Port Authority says this a $2 million project in the making.