(2nd Edition) The Pros and Cons of Open-Loop Payments - An Online Debate

Verma is chief technology officer at Transport for London. Since 2006, he’s been responsible for the operation of TfL’s revenue-collection system, including the Oyster card, the largest smart card based ticketing system in the world. In 2011, he added responsibility for integrating all customer-facing activities and running TfL’s customer-service operations.

Verma has led the development of contactless payments since 2007 and launched the technology in 2012. TfL’s open-loop payments system has since been acclaimed globally and has led to change in other transit fare- payments systems. In the process, Verma carved out an important role for a public-sector organization in technology development and innovation.

Since 2017 he has been responsible for TfL’s integrated delivery of technology and has built a record of technology-led transformation.

Verma has a bachelor of technology degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, and a master’s degree in public policy and an unfinished Ph.D. in public policy from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

He originally joined TfL in September 2002, after a brief time teaching at Harvard University and then working as an engagement manager at McKinsey in London.

Van Weele heads up OVpay, the first nationwide rollout of open-loop payments globally. He’s also director of external affairs for Arriva NL, one of nine Dutch transit operators participating in the open-loop service. Prior to joining Arriva, he worked for more than a decade for GVB, the transit operator in Amsterdam. There, he headed up sales and marketing, as well as introducing the closed-loop OV chip card.

Van Weele was educated at Erasmus University Rotterdam, where he studied Business/Strategic marketing management.

Carl Sedoryk has been CEO of Monterey-Salinas Transit since 2005, providing mobility to a region of the California Central Coast making up one-fifth of the state’s coastline. He’s worked for transit agencies since 1988, starting with Long Beach Transit. Since 2021, he’s overseen the first open-loop demonstration project for the state-backed Cal-ITP program. He has a Master’s of Business degree and a Finance degree from California State University, Long Beach.

Nitaya has 25 years experience in ePayments, in both transit and retail. He’s held senior roles at major transit authorities and operators, including leading automated-fare collection and revenue-collection work for the Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS)–Thailand’s first metro line.

After working for Bangkok Smartcard System (BSS), operator of the closed-loop Rabbit Card scheme, he returned to BTS and helped found Bangkok Payment Systems (BPS), a joint venture with Vix Technology. The JV provided Rabbit Card’s central clearinghouse and an account-based ticketing system for Rabbit Line Pay.

Nitaya managed many of the other Bangkok Payment Systems projects, including the central clearinghouses for the Mass Rapid Transit Authority of Thailand (MRTA) and the Mangmoom Card.

Nitaya also has considerable international experience in Hong Kong, Singapore, India and Dubai.

Basmacı serves as a board member and director of business development and delivery for Kentkart, a company that is synonymous with electronic-fare collection in Turkey. He has extensive experience in urban mobility and has held various positions in the industry. He specializes in Kentkart’s open-loop payments technology, and of note is Kentkart’s implementation in the Turkish city of Gaziantep to enable the transit agency there to apply concessionary discounts with open loop.

Basmacı completed his bachelor of science in industrial engineering at Koc University in 2014. Currently, he is pursuing an MBA at Bayes (Cass) Business School.

Besides Kentkart’s well-known closed-loop card technology in Turkey and open loop, the company provides vehicle tracking, real-time passenger information, planning and on-board camera security systems.