SALT LAKE CITY — A joint venture between three of the nation's four largest cell phone carriers will soon offer the United States' first commercially available mobile fare payment program to a public transportation system.

Isis, a mobile commerce joint venture between AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, announced it will roll out the pilot program in Salt Lake City in 2012, offering an alternative to credit and debit cards for Utah Transit Authority fare payments. The program is also set to work for purchases at retailers in the area.

“This is the evolution of moving off of plastic,” Isis CEO Michael Abbott said in an interview. “This is the future of payments.”

Abbott said the idea is to eventually make Salt Lake City, and other cities across the country, places where consumers don't need to carry their wallets anymore, communities where your cell phone is as good as cash or credit.

The idea sounds simple: Hop a train, swipe your phone, payment made.

But not so fast, say industry watchers.

“This is simply a silly claim on the part of these vendors,” said Charles Golvin, a principal analyst with Forrester Research.

The chips needed to make the technology work aren't yet available in most cell phones. Many carriers will be rolling them out next year, but it will take time to get them in the hands of consumers.

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