IDEMIA to Provide Transit Cards for L.A. Commuters

“IDEMIA will handle the entire card provision process, from production to shipment, with the firm expecting to produce up to 5.5 million such cards per year.”

IDEMIA will provide the transit cards for commuters in Los Angeles for the next three years, thanks to a new contract win.

The company was selected by Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (or ‘LA Metro’) to provide its contactless TAP cards, which allow users to board LA Metro buses or trains. IDEMIA will handle the entire card provision process, from production to shipment, with the firm expecting to produce up to 5.5 million such cards per year.

In a statement announcing the contract win, IDEMIA EVP Eric Duforest said his company had “met stringent technical requirements” to win the contract, and pointed to potential advances in TAP technology to come. “With a long-term perspective, travellers will be able to benefit from the various innovations of the IDEMIA offers for transport such as cards and wearables.”

That could even point to biometric transit cards, if the biometric smart card market takes off the way it’s expected to, with IDEMIA having recently affirmed two partnerships with biometric technology specialists angling to implement their technologies into smart card form factors.