1. Make a Stripe account for the bus company at dashboard.stripe.com/register. Stripe is the company that takes the credit cards and pays the money to the bus company.
2. Stripe asks about the business and for its bank account. Fill it in at dashboard.stripe.com/account/onboarding. The money from the cards goes to that bank account. Until this is done, Stripe takes no real payments.
3. Open dashboard.stripe.com/apikeys and press "Create secret key". Stripe sends a code by email or text. Type the code, give the key a name, for example "Bus system", and press "Create".
4. Copy the key. It starts with sk_live_. Stripe shows it only this one time.
5. Paste the key into "Stripe secret key" below, type the address of the bus company, and press "Connect Stripe". The line on top then says "Connected to the Stripe account".
6. Type the amounts a rider can add to a bus card, for example 10, 20, and press "Save amounts".
7. Order one "Stripe Reader M2" for each bus door. In Stripe, open "Readers" and press "Shop", or go to dashboard.stripe.com/terminal/shop. A reader costs $59.
8. When a reader comes, charge it and switch it on beside the tablet of its door. The tablet lists the readers it finds. Press the one with the number that is printed on the reader. This is done one time for each door.

What Stripe keeps: 2.7% + 5 cents of a card tapped on the bus, and 2.9% + 30 cents of a fill-up paid in the office. Stripe says the first payout to the bank usually takes 7 to 14 days after the first payment, and later ones 2 business days. The payments are also in Stripe under "Transactions", the payouts under "Balances". Prices and times are Stripe's, read on November 12, 2026.