On Wednesday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie announced that New Jersey Transit is the first public transportation agency to partner with Google Wallet, Google’s recently released contactless payment system.
Working as you might expect, Google Wallet gives New Jersey Transit rail and bus customers the option to use their smartphones to tap and pay for transportation tickets at select locations.
The technology uses “near field communication” (NFC), which enables wireless data transmission between two objects when they are brought in close proximity with one another.
“Transit has been a common element of every major successful NFC effort globally and is a critical component of Google Wallet’s success,” says Stephanie Tilenius, vice president of Commerce at Google. “Transit is the fastest way to accelerate adoption and reach usage density in major urban centers by habituating the behavior of tapping and paying with phones, and we’re excited to launch our transit effort here with New Jersey Transit.”
And the state’s chief executive is pretty excited too.
“Our partnership with Google demonstrates that New Jersey Transit and the State are at the forefront of emerging technology, paving the way for further exploration of new customer service technologies,” said Governor Christie. “I’m proud that New Jersey’s public transportation system is the very first public transportation agency to partner with Google Wallet, joining thousands of retailers accepting Wallet across the nation.”
“We are putting the latest technology to work for our customers and improve the overall customer experience, which is one of the areas of focus of our Scorecard initiative,” added New Jersey Transit Executive Director James Weinstein. “By partnering with Google, we are leading the industry with emerging technologies that will streamline the way customers buy their transportation tickets.”
