US petrol stations go contactless with Visa

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Visa has partnered with energy giant Chevron to launch a mobile payments programme at more than 20 Chevron-branded stations, accepting any NFC payment service.

 

Building on card infrastructure

The programme will start later this autumn in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. The partnership shouldn’t come as any surprise given the statistics that indicate an estimated 80 percent of Chevron customers in the U.S. pay for gas at the pump using a credit or debit card.

“Mobile payments are moving into the mainstream in the U.S. because, more and more, consumers see the value of using their personal devices to purchase everyday items like groceries and gas,” said Jim McCarthy, executive vice president of innovation and strategic partnerships at Visa Inc.

He went on to highlight that this technological upgrade had to happen because of consumer behaviour.

“For this reason, they are who we want to help us broaden both the reach, and consumer understanding of the many mobile payment options in the market today,” he added.

 

‘Do something faster’ with mobile

Carli Lloyd, the US football midfielder who is part of the campaign promoting the partnership said that she relies on her mobile more than ever in terms of payments, “Even better, is when I can use my phone to do something faster, like paying for something with just a tap.” 

 

Not the first

The partnership is not the first time contactless and mobile technology have expanded to cover petrol payments, it’s not even the first time they have been introduced in the US. In the summer, Cale, the unattended parking payment technology company, began offering secure contactless readers that accept Apple Pay for its pay stations. A week later, Switzerland also introduced cashless payment with PayByPhone’s app in Geneva that allowed users to pay for their parking via their smartphones.

In the UK, Barclays also expanded its reach to parking when it began offering its payment service Pingit as a method of payment for parking spaces.

 

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