Contactless Transit Payment System in Connecticut Estimated Five-Year Total Capital and Operating Costs are $7,016,000 to $7,896,000.
Connecticut Pilot Project Estimated Costs for a Contactless Payment System Scaled Statewide with Validators on 800 Fixed Route Buses.
Connecticut, United States
Transit riders in Connecticut must navigate complex fare structures, transfer rules, and multiple payment systems across more than 15 transit providers, while also relying on several different apps and websites to access schedule and real-time information. Connecticut’s Integrated Transit Mobility Project (CT-ITMP) was a proof-of-concept pilot for an integrated contactless transit payment system that ran from October 2024 through March 2025. The goal of the pilot was to test the system, called Tap & Ride, before scaling to include all transit services statewide. It included two providers (River Valley Transit and the CTtransit Meriden Division), and with a service area spanning 16 municipalities and 18 bus routes. As part of the pilot, the Connecticut Department of Transportation (CTDOT) also evaluated options for digital verification of discounted fares and investigated the necessary hardware and software upgrades required to deploy an app with real-time information.
Table 1 summarizes the capital and operational costs for two different procurement approaches that CTDOT considered. Table 2 provides the estimated unit costs.
Table 1: Contactless Payment System Estimated Total Costs (800 fare validators)
| Cost Item / Category |
Multiple Vendors |
One Vendor |
| Hardware and Installation (Capital) |
$1,456,000 |
$2,616,000 |
| Fare Processing Fees (assumes $2M revenue in Year 1) (Operating) |
$144,000 |
$160,000 |
| Fare Processing Effective Rate (Operating) |
7.20% |
8% |
| Mobile Ticketing - 3rd party integration (annual) (Operating) |
$520,000 |
$0 |
| Support & Maintenance (Operating) |
$336,000 |
$400,000 |
| Year 1 Costs (Capital + Operating) |
$2,456,000 |
$3,176,000 |
| Year 2 Costs (Operating Only) |
$1,144,000 |
$720,000 |
| Year 3 Costs (Operating Only) |
$1,288,000 |
$880,000 |
| Year 4 Costs (Operating Only) |
$1,432,000 |
$1,040,000 |
| Year 5 Costs (Operating Only) |
$1,576,000 |
$1,200,000 |
| Total 5-Year System Costs |
$7,896,000 |
$7,016,000 |
Table 2: Contactless Payment System Estimated Unit Costs
| Cost Item |
Multiple Vendors |
One Vendor |
| Validator (including mounting kits) |
$1,200 |
$2,000 |
| Installation |
$350 |
$1,000 |
| Charge Guard Power Delay Unit Purchase and Install |
$270 |
$270 |
| QR Integration with Mobile Ticketing Vendor |
$7,500 |
N/A |
| Mobile Ticketing Vendor Annual Integration Fee (Per Validator) |
$650 |
N/A |
Connecticut Integrated Transit Mobility Project (CT-ITMP) Final Implementation Report
The capital cost for contactless payment system hardware and installation with 800 fare validators ranged from $1,456,000 to $2,616,000, while the total five-year system costs ranged from $7,016,000 to $7,896,000.
