NJ Transit is partnering with Google Wallet, Google’s recently released contactless payment system. With Google Wallet, the agency’s rail and bus customers have the option to use their smart phones to tap and pay for transportation tickets at select locations.

Google Wallet is a free mobile app that transforms customers’ smart phones into their wallets, making “tap and pay” transactions quick and convenient by storing virtual versions of users’ credit cards on their phones. The technology uses “near field communication” (NFC), which enables wireless data transmission between two objects when they are brought in close proximity with one another. By making payments with a simple wave of their phone in front of a sensor, customers who use Google Wallet will no longer have to juggle cash or credit cards to make purchases.

Now, NJ Transit customers can use Google Wallet to purchase transportation tickets at New York Penn Station ticket vending machines and ticket windows, Newark Liberty International Airport Rail Station (AirTrain), on bus route nos. 6, 43, 80, 81, 87, and 120, and on some buses on the 126 line.

Currently, Google Wallet is available on Sprint’s Nexus S 4G phone and supports Citi MasterCard credit cards and a Google Prepaid Card, with plans to support additional card companies and more Android devices with NFC capabilities in the future.

The public-private partnership with Google Inc. was developed at no cost to NJ Transit. According to the agency, it is the first transit system to partner with Google Wallet.