Nevada County Connects leverages Cal-ITP’s Mobility Marketplace to elevate the payment experience across its bus network

Littlepay is delighted to announce its new deployment in partnership with KUBA and Elavon to bring open loop payments to the Nevada County Connects bus network via the California Integrated Travel Project (Cal-ITP). 

Nevada County Connect’s mission – to provide safe, convenient, reliable, and affordable fixed-route transit services and specialised paratransit services to the residents of Western Nevada County – demands a passenger-centric ticketing system that can help realise this ambition. This led Nevada County Connects to explore the benefits of upgrading its fleet of 12 vehicles to open loop payments. 

Any concerns they had about implementation roadblocks were allayed by Cal-ITP – an organisation that aims to make public transportation in California and beyond more accessible, cost-effective, and user-friendly. 

CAL-ITP makes contactless payments accessible in Nevada County 

The CAL-ITP Mobility Marketplace is an initiative built to help Californian transit authorities modernise their infrastructure. However, their resources, documentation and network of pre-integrated suppliers can be accessed by transit agencies from all over the United States to streamline the procurement process.

By leveraging the Cal-ITP Mobility Marketplace, rather than choosing a traditional bidding process, Nevada County Connects accessed a pre-approved resource of potential vendors: KUBA (device vendor and back office), Elavon (acquirer), Cybersource (gateway), and Littlepay (contactless payments processing). These products integrate within a modular solution for contactless fare collection and commit them to standard contracts removed the need to produce an RFP. 

Concession fares available with contactless 

Offering discounted fares to eligible groups is an essential part of a modern fare collection system. While introducing contactless payments, Nevada County Connects wanted to ensure that riders would still be able to access discounted fare programs while paying with their contactless card or mobile wallet. Therefore, they are utilising the Cal-ITP State Eligibility Verification portal to verify eligibility and link the relevant discount to a contactless card. 

“This is another example of a smaller transit agency expediting and reducing the cost of its path to contactless open loop payments by partnering with Littlepay through Cal-ITP. All of us here are proud to be a part of a journey that’s provided passengers in Nevada County with more convenient and accessible mobility payment options.”

Chris Brickwood, BDM at Littlepay