SAN FRANCISCO — Visa USA's effort to spread contactless payments even further has continued to gain ground, this time moving into the back seats of New York City taxicabs.
Thanks to a cooperative effort by Visa USA and Creative Mobile Technologies, a firm which specializes in taxicab innovation, New York City taxicab passengers will now be able to pay for their rides with a wave of their cards over a contactless reader.
"There is no city that hustles like New York and Visa is helping to add a bit of speed and convenience to the preferred mode of transportation for thousands of visitors and locals" said Brian Triplett, senior vice president with Visa USA. "We're excited to offer New York taxi passengers not only an alternative to cash, but a technology that will get them to where they're going faster and more efficiently."
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New York taxis equipped with the new readers are able to accept both Visa payWave transactions as well as traditional "swipe" transactions. Passengers are able to include a tip to the price of the fare, and no signature is required for transactions under $25. Visa research shows more and more consumers want to use a payment card for purchases under $25 for convenience (73%), efficiency (44%) and speed (39%), the card brand said.
Visa's announcement of the partnership dovetailed with the debut of Visa's latest "Life Takes Visa" television spot, titled "Morning in Manhattan," which introduces Visa payWave through general market advertising for the first time.
The series "Morning in Manhattan" shows New Yorkers making small ticket purchases such as coffee, donuts, newspapers and taxi fares, enabled by Visa payWave and swipe transactions. The harmony of the morning routine is brought to an abrupt halt when one customer chooses to pay with cash. Fortunately the next customer waves their Visa payWave card for a faster, easier transaction, resuming the rhythm of transactions that are set to the classical waltz "Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss, the card brand said.
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