Project Highlights from Littlepay: Washington DC’s record breaking upgrade to accept open loop payments

The Challenge

In one of the world’s foremost capital cities, WMATA set out to upgrade its fare collection system to accept open-loop payments – without a major overhaul of its legacy infrastructure and on a highly accelerated schedule.

WMATA issued a bold challenge to the industry; deliver a true overlay solution for contactless payments; one that could integrate seamlessly with existing systems, be implemented in months, and cost a fraction of traditional system upgrades or replacements.

The Solution

Littlepay stepped up to the challenge by providing an independent open loop transit payments service. Integration was kept to a minimum, requiring only a re-configuration of Cubic’s Tri-Reader devices to transmit tap data from contactless bank cards directly to Littlepay’s system. From tap to fare calculation to settlement and support, Littlepay then manages the entire payment lifecycle. The result is a modern, cloud-based fare collection solution that runs in parallel with WMATA’s existing infrastructure.

Find out more: Washington DC's record-breaking upgrade to accept open loop payments