A Boston mobile payments startup is partnering with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation to promote the company’s no-contact fuel payment system.
PayByCar lets customers with an E-ZPass transponder perform contactless payments for gas at certain stations without having to touch a screen or use cash, credit cards, or mobile apps.
Users pay by confirming a text message when they drive into a station, which the company says cuts transaction times in half.
The startup and gas station chain Alltown are also giving new participants a 30 cents per gallon discount on gas starting today, for up to 20 gallons over five visits.
"MassDOT is always looking for ways to make our drivers and travelers safer and more secure,” MassDOT state highway administrator Jonathan Gulliver in a statement, citing minimized physical interactions and transactions.
“We’re also proud that it was a local startup company — PayByCar — that developed this idea for a multi-state “Driven by E-ZPass” pilot with the 19-state E-Pass Group. We like that the idea came from Massachusetts’ own impressive start-up community and that the first-in-the-nation deployment is here in the Commonwealth with a retailer here in the Commonwealth,” Gulliver said.
The Alltown stations which offer PayByCar are in Abington, Ashburnham, Ashland, Billerica, Braintree, Centerville, Concord, Framingham, Leominster, Lowell, Marlborough, Mashpee, Orleans, Raynham, Roxbury, Saugus, Stoughton, Swampscott, Tyngsboro, Warren, Wellesley, Westborough, Westford, Westwood, Wrentham, and Yarmouth.
The company’s president and chief operating officer Anand Raman said PayByCar is useful tool particularly in the Covid era.
“Commuters want to be in as little physical contact with others as possible when buying coffee or filling up their tank,” Raman said.
