GCRTA Using InComm’s VanillaDirect Retail Network for Transit Support
A business leader living in Fort Lauderdale, FL, Merrill Brooks Smith is the founder and CEO of InComm Payments, which is headquartered in Atlanta, GA. Merrill Brooks Smith founded the financial technology company in 1992 and has steered it to global prominence thanks in part to strategic partnerships with public and private organizations.
In June 2022, InComm announced it was working with the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) to support its launch of a mobile ticketing solution. GCRTA rolled out EZfare on its Transit mobile app on June 23. Following the roll out, its customers could use EZfare to plan trips, track vehicles, pay fares, and purchase fare media such as daily, weekly, or monthly passes. The launch also made it easier for GCRTA’s riders in Northeast Ohio to buy fare media through its app for 13 other transit agencies in Ohio, Kentucky, and Michigan including PARTA, Laketran, METRO, and SARTA.
Many app users, however, are unbanked or underbanked. These people prefer to use cash. Resolute in upholding fare equity for all, GCRTA partnered with InComm to allow riders to load their Transit accounts with cash at any of the over 230 retail locations served by InComm’s VanillaDirect.














