Cal-ITP Benefits Newsletter ¶
Most months we send a newsletter to share product updates, adoption metrics, and news related to Cal-ITP Benefits. Below is an archive of all newsletters we’ve shared. Browse the list by year or use the search field in the header to locate content about a specific topic.
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2026 ¶
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July 2026 ¶
Cal-ITP Benefits goes national
Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority (PSTA) in St. Petersburg, Florida will become the first transit operator outside California to adopt Cal-ITP Benefits, with a go-live targeted for early 2027. The PSTA project will also add support for INIT as a third supported fare processor, meaning any California agency currently using INIT can then adopt Cal-ITP Benefits. Year-to-date, the product has reached 453 enrollments and 4,293 reduced-fare transactions, with month-over-month transactions up 36%.
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June 2026 ¶
Open-loop payments reach a tipping point
LA Metro’s soft launch of open-loop payments ahead of the World Cup marked a turning point: transit operators carrying the majority of California statewide ridership now accept tap-to-pay. However, a gap remains — neither LA Metro nor Clipper yet offers reduced fares for eligible riders using open-loop payments. Cal-ITP Benefits solves that problem, and is available today to any California transit operator regardless of size.
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April 2026 ¶
Regional enrollment
Regional enrollment launched in San Luis Obispo County: a single enrollment now automatically applies reduced fares when riders tap-to-ride on both SLO Transit and San Luis Obispo RTA buses. A group of transit providers in Ventura County will launch as a second region in Cal-ITP Benefits in the summer of 2026. The California Mobility Marketplace published a new Rider Benefits resource page devoted entirely to information about Cal-ITP Benefits.
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March 2026 ¶
Low-income enrollment
Redding Area Bus Authority (RABA) became the eighth agency to adopt Cal-ITP Benefits and the first to enable the low-income (CalFresh) enrollment pathway. Californians who receive CalFresh benefits can now verify eligibility for a transit benefit and register a contactless card entirely online — no income disclosure or in-person visit required.
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February 2026 ¶
New transit partner
El Dorado Transit Authority went live in Cal-ITP Benefits for older adults and Medicare cardholders, bringing the total to seven active agencies. The team also highlighted behind-the-scenes infrastructure work to support scalability and a reminder that this is an open-source project in GitHub.
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January 2026 ¶
2025 year in review
473 enrollments in 2025 (304% YoY growth), 6,646 reduced-fare transactions (138% YoY growth), and three new agencies onboarded. Also covered: the Switchio fare processor integration, an in-person enrollment beta at SBMTD and MST, and the completion of eligibility standards research for riders with disabilities.
2025 ¶
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March 2025 ¶
New transit provider and an update on 2024 goals
Nevada County Connects launches in Cal-ITP Benefits. Santa Barbara MTD and SacRT now offer the Medicare cardholder enrollment pathway. A new video walkthrough of the rider experience for CalFresh cardholder enrollment is available on YouTube. In January, we met our 2024 metric goals by surpassing 5,000 reduced-fare transactions and 225 enrollments. New targets for 2025: 425 enrollments and 10,000 transactions.
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April 2025 ¶
SacRT launches open-loop payments
SacRT publicly announces the launch of open-loop payments across their bus system, driving the largest single-month enrollment spike to date. Development began on the Enghouse fare processor integration, with VCTC set to be the first agency to use it. Nevada County Connects added Veterans as an eligible group — the first agency to do so without a pre-existing Veterans discount program. The in-person enrollment pilot expanded to SBMTD.
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May 2025 ¶
An update on in-person enrollment
MST and SBMTD are using in-person enrollment to enroll riders when self-service enrollment is difficult or not possible. In-person enrollments now account for over 10% of 2025 enrollments. This new option is proving especially useful at community events where agency staff can verify eligibility on the spot. Roseville Transit and El Dorado Transit joined the adoption pipeline.
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June 2025 ¶
2025 enrollment insights
Monthly enrollments over the last two months were up four times the 2024 average. A breakdown by benefit option showed that older adults (65+) and Medicare cardholders account for over half of all enrollments, while Veterans — a benefit none of the live agencies offered before adopting Cal-ITP Benefits — represent nearly a quarter. The data challenges the notion that older adults won’t use new technology options.
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July 2025 ¶
Annual enrollment goal surpassed by mid-year
It’s only mid-year, and we’ve surpassed our 2025 enrollment goal. The technical integration to support agencies using Enghouse is complete; VCTC is set to become the first agency to use it. Littlepay announced a new “eligibility portal as a service” product using ID.me, one example of how Cal-ITP’s work is influencing the broader transit technology landscape.
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September 2025 ¶
Offering enrollment for riders with disabilities
This month we kicked off research to develop standard eligibility policies for people with disabilities, the third FTA-required discount group not yet supported by Cal-ITP Benefits. Interviews with agency staff and riders with disabilities are planned for October and November, with standard policies expected by year-end and deployment in the product in 2026.
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October 2025 ¶
Support for Amex and Discover and VCTC launches
The Enghouse integration, which uses Switchio for fare processing, went live at VCTC after nine months of development. Cal-ITP Benefits now supports all four major card schemes: Visa, Mastercard, Discover, and American Express. MST will be the first agency to offer Discover and Amex in California.
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November 2025 ¶
New landing page
We launched a new landing page in the rider-facing app to accommodate the growing number of live agencies. A brief reflection on how far we’ve come after surpassing our reduced-fare transaction goal for 2025 with a month to spare.
2024 ¶
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April 2024 ¶
First newsletter
The first edition of the newsletter marks the beginning of a push for wider product adoption. Product updates include a new enrollment pathway for SBMTD riders with a Reduced Fare Mobility ID, an alpha of the Admin interface, and a refactored Littlepay integration supporting their new Backoffice API. Additionally, we now offer video walkthroughs of the rider enrollment experience on YouTube.
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May 2024 ¶
Outreach and product marketing
The Cal-ITP Customer Success team attended CALACT in San Diego, generating interest from ten agencies. Cal-ITP is collaborating on a campaign to promote Cal-ITP Benefits within Transit app for MST riders.
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June 2024 ¶
Continued state and national outreach
The rider promotion campaign with Transit app for MST is complete. The team presented at the Disability & Aging Community Living Advisory Committee (DACLAC) quarterly meeting and shared learnings with Connecticut’s Integrated Mobility project to promote Cal-ITP’s objectives at the national level. A live webinar on Cal-ITP Benefits for transit operators will take place in July.
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July 2024 ¶
App enhancements
We released improvements to the agency cardholder enrollment flow that allow riders to re-enter incorrect card details without restarting the flow and overhauled copy on error pages to improve clarity.
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August 2024 ¶
Medicare pathway in development
A recording of the first webinar presenting Cal-ITP Benefits to agencies is now available on YouTube. Design and development kicked off for the Medicare cardholder enrollment pathway, a key feature for FTA-compliant fare discount programs. View the roadmap for the second half of 2024.
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September 2024 ¶
Development of in-person enrollment begins
GSA published a blog featuring Cal-ITP Benefits as one of the first state programs to use Login.gov. CDT applied for access to the Blue Button API, which Cal-ITP Benefits will utilize for Medicare eligibility verification via the California Identity Gateway. Development began on Cal-ITP Benefits Administrator, a new aspect of the product, with in-person enrollment as its first feature.
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October 2024 ¶
Launch of low-income enrollment
After many months of work, the Digital ID team at the California Department of Technology secured production access to the CalFresh Confirm API; the low-income enrollment pathway is now available to any agency using Cal-ITP Benefits. Cal-ITP supported SBMTD at the 33rd Annual Santa Barbara Senior Expo by offering an in-person enrollment beta in Cal-ITP Benefits, enrolling 14 riders for reduced fares in under three hours.
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November 2024 ¶
Launch of the Medicare enrollment pathway
The Medicare cardholder enrollment pathway is now available to any agency using Cal-ITP Benefits, completing support for two of the three FTA-required discount groups. Sacramento Regional Transit (SacRT) went live in Cal-ITP Benefits, including a new Veterans benefit pilot.
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December 2024 ¶
MST enables Medicare pathway
Monterey-Salinas Transit became the first agency to enable the new Medicare cardholder enrollment pathway, moving closer to a fully FTA-compliant discount program for open-loop payments.
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