Public transit riders have spoken, and they're expecting technology to make ticketing easier, reduce delays, and improve communication from transit authorities. And most of them are even willing to pay higher ticket prices for the privilege.

In a survey conducted by the consulting firm Accenture, over 4,500 transit users in nine major cities overwhelmingly said that they expect such technological advances as paperless ticketing, communication about delays through social media, and the ability to pay for travel using a smartphone app.

In the U.S. cities polled, 80 percent of riders said they'd be willing to pay more per ride for a journey that's completely paperless. And over 75 percent of them said they'd pay more if they could use their smartphone for ticketing. In fact, a great deal of riders assumed such technology would be available as soon as 2014.

While adding a barcode scanner at the turnstile might sound like an easy update — airlines already have mobile boarding passes, and you can pay-by-phone at Starbucks – it's a little harder for publicly-funded transit agencies to modernize so quickly. Most of them are already set up for smart cards or magnetic swipe cards, and payments are usually processed through a single vendor who also handles ticketing.

But according to Accenture's Mike Wilson, who leads the company's public transit research, more transit operators are looking into getting the capital necessary to upgrade thanks to the explosion of interest in barcode and NFC technology.

"With all these choices coming onto the marketplace — contactless credit cards, mobile wallet, mobile ticketing — it's also causing transit agencies to look at their overall technology platforms," he said. "It really is about the business case. A lot of these agencies are investing in business cases to modernize."

In addition, consumers are starting to expect their transit agencies to connect with them on social media. While fewer than a quarter of transit riders receive daily updates on prices, delays, and service alerts through Facebook and Twitter, more than 90 percent want that information. That's not just young people, either, as nearly two-thirds of transit riders over 65 follow their public transit agency on Facebook.

Where transit agencies traditionally focused solely on equipment upgrades to improve the user experience, they're beginning to realize that engaging with consumers through social media and opening up their data to third-party programmers can really improve rider satisfaction. "The surveys are starting to show that the customers are really reacting to these technologies," Wilson said.