TAXI !!!

It’s happened to us all. After flailing around like an idiot hanging off of the side of the curb, you’ve finally managed to flag down a cab – only to realize you have no cash.

Old solution: Ask the cabbie to stop by an ATM before reaching your final destination and run the meter up another five bucks.

New solution: Simply use your RFID-enabled PayPass credit card or keychain to make the payment.

Roughly half of the 1,600 licensed taxis in Philadelphia are now equipped with VeriFone's Omni 7000 payment terminals, which link to a ViVOpay RFID payment-card reader made by ViVOtech, a northern California firm specializing in RFID payment systems.

Besides paying the fare, passengers can enter a tip amount on the Omni 7000. No signature is needed for transactions under $25.