MasterCard wants STM to accept its credit card as ticket payment

Credit card company MasterCard is in talks with Montreal's transit authority to have its cards accepted as ticket payment, as an alternative to the OPUS card.

The STM'sAmlieRgisconfirms the authority has met with MasterCard.

"Mastercardenrolled in the registry of lobbyists in order to present alternative payment solutions to the STM," she said in anemailto CBC News.

"Everything is still very exploratory."

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In its initial statement, MasterCardsaid ithopes the STM will consider the use of its Paypass technology for users taking the bus or metro.

Paypass cards, or"contactless" MasterCards,have an embedded computer chip called a radio frequency identification, or RFID, tag.

When waved near a payment terminal in a store, the chip suppliesthe card's number and expiry date through radio waves, avoiding the need to swipe or insert the card or have somebody handle it.

As it stands, the OPUS card,STM-issuedtickets and exact changeare the only way to pay for a transit trip.