Hop Fastpass Partners with Google, Becoming First Virtual Transit Fare Card Available within Android Pay Globally

Dec. 13, 2017

TriMet and Google are teaming up for a first – making Hop Fastpass the first virtual transit card available in Android Pay starting early next year, which also marks the first mobile wallet partnership for TriMet.

Related To: TriMet

The Hop Fastpass Commuters in the Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Area can use a mobile wallet or any contactless bank card to tap and ride on TriMet, C-TRAN and the Portland Streetcar. INIT’s MOBILEvario powers the account-based, open payment system and manages and processes fares in real-time, recognizes and processes revenue sharing, as well as manages accounts and automates reconciliations for all three agencies. INIT developed the system using open architecture APIs so other partners could be easily incorporated. TriMet partnered with Google to make the Hop Fastpass the first virtual transit card available in Android Pay. Beta testing started in December, giving a select group of testers the opportunity to load a virtual Hop card in Android Pay, allowing them to tap their phones to pay their fares. MassTransitmag.com/12362197 · MassTransitmag.com/12386556 — The Hop Fastpass
Commuters in the Portland-Vancouver Metropolitan Area can use a mobile wallet or any contactless bank card to tap and ride on TriMet, C-TRAN and the Portland Streetcar. INIT’s MOBILEvario powers the account-based, open payment system and manages and processes fares in real-time, recognizes and processes revenue sharing, as well as manages accounts and automates reconciliations for all three agencies. INIT developed the system using open architecture APIs so other partners could be easily incorporated. TriMet partnered with Google to make the Hop Fastpass the first virtual transit card available in Android Pay. Beta testing started in December, giving a select group of testers the opportunity to load a virtual Hop card in Android Pay, allowing them to tap their phones to pay their fares. MassTransitmag.com/12362197 · MassTransitmag.com/12386556

Android Pay works with Android phones running Kit Kat (4.4) or higher. To make in-store or transit payments, your phone also needs to support NFC (Near Field Communication) and HCE (Host Card Emulation). To check for NFC, look for it in your phone’s Settings app. You can make in-app payments even if your phone does not have HCE.

In December 2017, a select group of TriMet, C-TRAN, and Portland Streetcar beta testers will be able to load a virtual Hop card into Android Pay – giving them the ability to tap their phones to pay for their fares and receive all the benefits of a physical Hop card.

Currently, TriMet riders are able to tap their smartphones with Android Pay at a Hop reader and pay for a ride using a debit or credit card, but that is limited to just the purchase of an adult fare.

Beta testers can experience all the functionality and benefits of Hop:

Ability to purchase Youth, Honored Citizen or Adult fares
Easily reload value online or set up auto-reload
Earn a day pass or month pass with no upfront cost. Once the cost of a day pass is reached, the rest of the rides are free that day
Similarly, once the cost of a month pass is reached, the rest of the rides that month are free

Selected beta testers will download the Hop Fastpass mobile app from the Google Play store. Within the mobile app, they can then purchase a Virtual Hop card for Adult, Honored Citizen or Youth fare. From there, they can load a balance to the card, either with a one-time transaction or by registering the virtual card, linking it to a bankcard and selecting auto-pay. Once linked, Android Pay users can tap for every ride and enjoy the same daily and monthly savings that physical Hop card users get.

What is Hop?

Hop is a regional account-based, electronic fare system. Users electronically pay their fare by tapping a card or phone against a reader to ride TriMet, C-TRAN and Portland Streetcar. The system automatically deducts the cost of the ride from the user’s balance. Take two trips—more than 2½ hours apart—in one day and earn a day pass.

TriMet thanks its technology partners – Google, INIT and moovel – for their ongoing development and innovation of the Hop Fastpass electronic fare system.