VeriFone this week announced plans to expand its taxi and media services to Istanbul and throughout Mexico's Mayan Riviera, according to a press release. Through this expansion, VeriFone stands to provide more than 20,000 additional taxis with secure, in-taxi and mobile payments, mobile hailing and booking, and interactive multimedia digital signage content during passenger rides.    

"This planned expansion can benefit taxi fleets and drivers in these regions by enabling them to provide passengers with convenient and secure methods of payment and mobile apps," Amos Tamam, senior vice president of taxi systems for VeriFone, said in a statement. "It will also increase the number of screens through which merchants and consumer brands can leverage VeriFone's connected multimedia network to reach captive audiences and enable commerce." 

Istanbul's 18,000 licensed taxis will use VeriFone's full suite of taxi payment services, including Way2ride — VeriFone's mobile taxi app — and VeriFone's driver-facing tablets and passenger facing payment terminals that can engage consumers with relevant digital signage content through VeriFone's multimedia network — the VeriFone Digital Network. VeriFone expects the two-year deployment of the solutions to begin in late 2015.

In association with Mexicar, VeriFone's taxi and media services will also be available to more than 3,000 taxis operating in Mexico's Mayan Riviera — Cancun and Playa Del Carmen — through VeriFone's partnership with one of the largest financial institutions in Mexico. Mexicar has been selected by the Mayan Riviera's taxi drivers' unions to supply member taxis with payment, advertising and media solutions, which Mexicar has agreed to obtain exclusively from VeriFone.

"Growth of our taxi and media network that we're anticipating in these regions is a result of our ability to work well with partners that have selected VeriFone to deliver the technology and solutions they need to better serve their clients," Tamam said. "We are very excited to work with these partners, as they understand the value VeriFone brings beyond payments."