The Utah Transit Authority Jan. 1 will officially launch its new fare collection system that includes contactless credit cards. In addition, the new readers installed on its 520 buses and at 35 rail platforms will also accept prepaid cards, such as student ID cards and UTA’s own electronic passes.

Passengers with the credit cards, student IDs and electronic passes “tap on” and “tap off” when boarding and exiting UTA’s vehicles. Tapping when they exit opens a two-hour transfer window, which means they can board another service and tap on without getting charged again, said one UTA official. Read more here.