New Jersey Transit Corporation (NJ Transit) has some good news to share about purchasing tickets.

The system, working in partnership with Google Wallet, Google’s recently released contactless payment system, notes that it is the first public transportation agency to offer rail and bus customers the option of using their smartphones to pay for transportation tickets at select locations.

“We are putting the latest technology to work for our customers and improve the overall customer experience,” said NJ Transit Executive Director James Weinstein. “By partnering with Google, we are leading the industry with emerging technologies that will streamline the way customers buy their transportation tickets.”

“Transit has been a common element of every major successful ‘near field communication’ (NFC) effort globally and is a critical component of Google Wallet’s success,” said Stephanie Tilenius, vice president of commerce at Google. “Transit is the fastest way to accelerate adoption and reach usage density in major urban centers by habituating the behavior of tapping and paying with phones, and we’re excited to launch our transit effort here with NJ Transit.”

Google Wallet is a free mobile app that makes “tap and pay” transactions quick and convenient by storing virtual versions of users’ credit cards on their smartphones. The technology uses NFC, which enables wireless data transmission between two objects when they are brought into close proximity with one another, so customers simply wave their phones in front of a sensor. Result? No more juggling cash or using credit cards to make purchases.

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.

Another benefit to users: This public-private partnership with Google Inc. was developed at no cost to NJ Transit.

For more information, click here.

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