Barclaycard displays wave-and-pay in cab

Barclaycard is continuing its campaign against pocket change with a mock-up of a wave-and-pay taxi terminal, on display at the Business Travel Show in London.

The concept cab, from London taxi firm Computer Cabs, let show attendees see how the contactless payment system could work and what potential uses the mobile terminals could have ahead of their expected release later this year.

The contactless system, which was originally announced in December, will allow customers to pay for transactions under £10 by simply waving their Visa cards in front of a reader - similar to Transport for London's Oyster card system, which will also be built into the cards.

Unlike Oyster, which is a closed prepay network, the wave-and-pay system will use the same payment network as chip-and-pin, without the time-consuming button pressing and waiting for authorisation.

"It works exactly the same as a credit card, but rather than dipping the card in and entering a pin, you just wave it," said Barclaycard spokesperson Ian Barber.

Despite not making use of the security of a pin number, Barclaycard has few concerns because the transactions are limited to £10 each.

"It's not worth it for less than £10," said Barber. "If the card is used too many times in a row, the card will check the person's security by automatically switching to chip-and-pin."

Other than cabs, the contactless system could be useful anywhere a lot of small amounts of cash trade hands, such as fast food, newsagents and even pubs.

"I think particular sectors where cash is quite dominant, anywhere with a high usage of cash, is where retailers are interested," Barber said, citing remote transactions such as vending machines and car parks as ideal uses for the contactless equipment.

The card and terminal technology is still in development, with Barclaycard working toward a launch later this year, said Barber.

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