Here’s your chance to design the DC streetcar’s mobile payment app

When — eventually, one day, we hope — the D.C. streetcar starts zipping along H Street, it will need a payment system. And good old-fashioned paper tickets just won’t suffice.
The D.C. Department of Transportation (DDOT) has issued a solicitation for a mobile payment platform to complement traditional tickets, the Washington Business Journal first reported Wednesday.
Why does this retro mode of transportation need a mobile app more than our buses do?
Because, explains DDOT, they are longer, with multiple doors for passengers to enter and exit through.
“This alignment makes collecting fares through on-board devices … problematic,” the solicitation reads.
The “Mobile Fare Payment System” envisioned by DDOT shall be:

• “based on the latest available technology platform,” which includes iOS, Android, Windows Phone and also possibly Blackberry.
• “flexible and easily scalable”
• “designed to provide quick, easy, customer-initiated transactions.”
• compatible with Metro’s SmartBenefits system

The budget cap for the project is $2.6 million.
Interested?
Learn more