Cubic Transportation Systems Inc., a business segment of Cubic Corp., announced the PATCO Open Payment Program, which enables commuters to use the PATCO Wave & Pay ANYWHERE Visa Prepaid Card, or any other contactless bank card, to pay for PATCO fares, will end October 20.

Officials from Cubic said the Lindenwold, N.J.-based PATCO Open Payment Program provided Cubic with valuable technical information on the best practices for deploying and operating future contactless payment systems in other transportation systems. The company wanted to test its open payment account-based products and determine if people would use the same media as both their fare card and their retail spend card, and both objectives were successfully achieved.

The PATCO Open Payment Program was launched in the fall of 2011. PATCO partnered with Cubic Transportation Systems to create the first transit-agency branded, all contactless Visa prepaid card in the world. This was one of the first times that consumers were able to use a transit payment card for both transit and retail purchases. The new card, called the Wave & Pay ANYWHERE Visa Prepaid Card, debuted in September 2011, as phase one of the PATCO open payment program.

In phase two of the program, commuters were able to use any contactless Visa, MasterCard, Discover or American Express card, or a virtual card in a mobile wallet, to make secure transit payments at PATCO gates and parking terminals. Riders were able to simply tap their cards and go, paying their fares with a quick flick of the wrist.