Survey Finds That Kicking Cash off the Bus Will Be Hard To Do

Despite years of efforts by transit agencies, payments companies and banks to get mass-transit riders to switch to cards or mobile tickets, most riders still prefer to pay fares with cash and regard cash as the most secure payment form, according to new survey results from payment technology provider ACI Worldwide Inc.

Naples, Fla.-based ACI surveyed 2,006 transit users in the nation’s nine largest public-transportation markets: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. The survey found that cash was the most popular payment method, preferred by 51% of riders. Next were credit and debit cards, preferred by 31% of respondents, and mobile payments, scoring only 12% on preference. Only 7% of riders normally pay via a mobile app.

Cash, which ACI said costs agencies twice as much in overhead as non-cash payments, is most popular in Philadelphia, where 75% of respondents there pay with cash and 63% said they prefer to pay with it. In the New York City area, by far the nation’s biggest transit market, cash is least popular. Only 42% of New Yorkers normally pay with cash, and 36% said they prefer cash.

Riders also considered cash payments, whether at a physical location, a kiosk, or on board, as more secure than alternative ways of paying for transit.