Hungarian transit authority Budapesti Közlekedési Központ (BKK) has begun trialling an open loop contactless fare payment system that enables passengers to pay their fares on the 100E airport shuttle bus in Budapest by tapping an onboard validator with their physical or digital debit or credit card... More
Fans of the Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball team in the US can now sign up to test a hands-free biometric ticketing system at Citizens Bank Park that enables them to gain access to home games at the stadium with their face... More
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) has begun trialling an open loop contactless fare payment system that enables passengers to pay for their journeys with their physical or digital credit card... More
Tokyo Metro and Tokyu Corporation are to test enabling passengers on subway and rail services in and around the Japanese capital to make contactless fare payments with their debit or credit cards rather than a proprietary transit card, according to local media reports... More
Moscow Metro is to pilot the use of Russia’s digital ruble for fare payments as part of the Central Bank of Russia’s real-world testing programme for the central bank digital currency (CBDC)... More
South Korea’s Seoul Metro is to test a ‘tagless’ fare payment system that will enable passengers to pay for their tickets by walking through a ticketing gate without having to tap a contactless reader with their transit card or smartphone... More
Passengers using bus, tram and train services across the Australian state of Victoria will soon be able to use their physical or digital debit or credit card to pay their transit fares using an open loop contactless ticketing system... More
Food bank users in the London borough of Hackney in the UK can now buy essential food items at local grocery stores by using a smartphone app to generate a QR code with their face and then use this code to authorise payments from dedicated funds... More
Wendy’s is to pilot an automated contactless fast food ordering system that will enable customers to place their orders at a drive-through via an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot that will have “the ability to understand made-to-order requests and generate responses to frequently asked questions”... More
Residents of Colombia with a La Cédula Digital Colombiana digital national identity card can now use their facial biometric data stored on the National Registry of Civil Status to authenticate their identity when opening a bank account, requesting a loan or carrying out other transactions on mobile banking apps, at bank branches and at ATMs... More
Customers using Yahoo Japan’s convenience store in the Yoyogi Uehara district of Tokyo can now opt to pay for their purchases at a self-service checkout with their face using biometric payment... More
The University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust in the UK is to trial a solution that allows pregnant women to quickly and easily report the results of a home test for diabetes to antenatal care providers by scanning the testing device with their NFC smartphone... More
Employee reward and incentive programmes provider Halo is trialling a digital card provisioning solution that enables users to quickly and easily add a virtual prepaid rewards card directly to their digital wallet without needing to download an app or add their bank details... More
UK bank NatWest is trialling a ‘reverse vending machine’ that enables consumers to securely recycle unwanted plastic payment, gift and loyalty cards as well as card readers and plastic bottles at locations across London... More
India’s ICICI, IDFC First and Kotak Mahindra banks have begun enabling selected merchants to accept contactless in-store payments made using the retail version of the prototype digital rupee as part of the first phase of the Reserve Bank of India’s retail central bank digital currency pilot... More
The Central Bank of Bangladesh is trialling an interoperable payments system that will enable customers of more than 15 major banks and payment service providers to pay for their purchases by scanning a standardized QR code at a participating merchant’s point of sale with their smartphone... More
Residents of Townsville in northern Queensland will soon be able to store and use digital versions of their driving licence, marine licence and photo ID cards on their smartphone when the Australian state launches the next phase of its Digital Licence app trial prior to a state-wide rollout due later this year... More
Passengers travelling on train services operated by JR West between two railway stations in the Japanese city of Osaka will soon be able to test a contactless biometric ticketing system that enables them to pay for their fares with their face... More
McDonald’s is testing an automated contactless system at an outlet near Fort Worth in the US state of Texas that enables customers to order, pay for and collect food and beverages prepared by staff in the outlet’s kitchen from a conveyor belt without needing to use a conventional checkout or pick up their orders from a front-of-house employee... More
Passengers who use a wheelchair travelling on services operated by Osaka Metro in Japan are the first to trial a biometric contactless fare payment system that enables them to pay by passing through a wheelchair-accessible ticket gate equipped with face recognition technology... More
