eftpos managing director Stephen Benton said that while eftpos "had been working on transport for some time, the company had this week formed a dedicated technical and business team to complete the capability rollout to financial institutions across Australia by April 2019, and was already in discussions with a number of State Governments".

He said the new transport team at eftpos would "also focus on rolling out eftpos Tap & Pay to other types of unattended payment devices such as parking metres and vending machines".

We're told the move follows the successful rollout of eftpos Tap & Pay capability to around 30 million cards and 900,000 point-of-sale terminals across Australia over the past four years.

Benton added: “As tap payments are introduced on transport systems across Australia, it is vital for eftpos debit to be included to ensure all Australians have access to the benefits of this technology and can use their own money, rather than credit.

“The inclusion of eftpos, in addition to the international credit card schemes, will also help drive competition and better outcomes for State Governments and taxpayers.”

As the eftpos people explain, "transport is the next natural progression for eftpos Tap & Pay, with a new consumer survey of 1500 Australians showing that 82% of people would prefer not to use credit for transport payments".

According to the survey, debit is the preferred way to pay for transport with 37% support, while eftpos is the preferred debit brand. Preference for eftpos is particularly high for lower income people, families, over 50s and young people who regularly use public transport.

Of those Australians who only hold an eftpos card, around 20% are youth, 42% are over 50, 51% are renters and 34% are unemployed or stay at home.

Benton said eftpos Tap & Pay for transport would "provide a number of important benefits for budget conscious eftpos cardholders, including not having to preload funds on transport cards, and a seamless interstate transport experience".