Transit benefits enrollment, minus the paperwork.

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Product updates

• We've already surpassed our annual rider enrollment goal for 2025! At the end of June, 427 riders had enrolled for transit benefits using Cal-ITP Benefits. Our target for the year was 425. A variety of factors helped us reach this mark more quickly than expected. The launch of contactless payments at SacRT, our largest transit provider to date that has adopted the app, contributed to substantial enrollments in March, April, and May. Smaller providers—including Nevada County and SBMTD—publicly announced the availability of contactless payments. We also added limited support for in-person enrollments, giving providers more flexibility to support cases where digital enrollment was challenging. We have a robust pipeline of providers adopting the app through the end of the year, so we expect healthy enrollment numbers to continue throughout the second half of the year.

• We've completed the technical implementation to support Enghouse in Cal-ITP Benefits. Enghouse Transportation is one of four transit fare processors included in the Cal-ITP Master Service Agreements. To date, seventeen transit providers have successfully launched open-loop payments using our MSAs. Sixteen of those providers contracted with Littlepay for fare processing. In June, VCTC became the first provider to launch a contactless payment implementation using Enghouse. In the coming months, VCTC will offer transit benefit enrollment for its riders using Cal-ITP Benefits to support its new method of fare collection. Cal-ITP Benefits will be available to any transit provider that contracts with Enghouse for fare processing by the end of Q3. One of the core principles at Cal-ITP is to offer transit providers a choice when it comes to vendors; this implementation in the Benefits app is an important expansion of the options available to transit providers that use our MSAs.

• Littlepay announces new “eligibility portal as a service” that supports concession programs for open-loop systems by “linking a passenger's identity and benefit eligibility to their payment card.” This exciting new development is just one example of how Cal-ITP’s thought leadership in contactless payments is changing the landscape of public transit throughout the country. We welcome new options for transit providers that meaningfully advance our underlying goal: better public transit for riders. Littlepay, which has also been a longstanding partner for agencies using Cal-ITP Benefits, will integrate with ID.me for its new eligibility solution. For more information, see Littlepay’s ’s video presentation. 

   

• Looking for content in a previous monthly update? See a full list of monthly updates about Cal-ITP Benefits in our newsletter archive. 

The numbers

427

Total rider enrollments

Total rider enrollments using the Cal-ITP Benefits app. We aim to surpass 425 enrollments by the end of 2025.

7377

Total reduced-fare, open-loop transactions

Total reduced-fare, open-loop transactions processed at California transit agencies that have adopted Cal-ITP Benefits. We aim to surpass 10,000 transactions in 2025.

↓ 5%

Percentage change in reduced-fare transactions vs. previous month

Month over month change in reduced-fare, open loop transactions. This activity represents concrete usage of contactless payment by people who benefit from reduced fares.

We're working to make Cal-ITP Benefits a complete discount program solution that allows transit providers to transition fully to contactless payments for fare collection.

Have questions or concerns about how benefits will work for your agency? 

Cal-ITP Benefits addresses several of Cal-ITP's key goals to improve transit throughout California:

• Promote equitable access to transit
• Lower costs
• Increase Ridership
• Improve customer experience

The project also seeks to expand adoption of open-loop payments and supports efforts to provide accurate and complete information for planning trips on public transit in real-time. Learn more about Cal-ITP.

Transit providers! Visit the Mobility Marketplace for a catalog of code-compliant products and services offered by Cal-ITP to support your operations.