The way they mention the governor immediately made me think this is mainly to gain political capital.

I would bet it's part of the larger campaign by credit card companies to make contactless payment the only option for as many things as possible.

The more people use it, the easier it is to remove alternatives. Then everyone's movements and spending habits are tracked.

I suspect they are fielding complaints that autonomous vehicles increase road traffic, so they want to show that they are encouraging the use of public transit. Uber and Lyft have long been blamed for an increase in overall traffic.