Football fans aren't the only ones doing the wave these days.

Millions of credit and debit cardholders are joining in as they save time at the register by waving or tapping their cards in front of a reader instead of swiping them.

About 22,000 merchants nationwide -- including several hundred McDonald's, CVS drug stores and Sheetz convenience stores in the Pittsburgh region -- currently accept "contactless" payments. Visa estimates that number will zoom next year by tenfold, to 220,000 locations.

Card issuers see the new technology as a way to turn cash transactions into credit, thereby boosting processing fees in a mature industry. They're pitching the cards to convenience stores, drugstores, movie theaters, fast-food outlets and other locations where speed and convenience are at a premium -- and where customers tend to pay with cash.

At the same time, the card companies say, hurried consumers can save time fumbling for change and the aggravation of waiting in long lines.

"There's still a lot of cash out there," said Asaf Buchner, an analyst who studies electronic payments for Jupiter Research in New York. Card companies have come up with a time-saving solution to encourage more card transactions "because one thing that bothers people most is standing in line," he said.

The flash and dash cards are embedded with radio-frequency chips and antennas that allow them to be read when held close to a special device at the checkout. It's the same technology used in many employee identification cards and by motorists to pay Turnpike tolls.

The contactless cards also contain a magnetic stripe allowing them to be swiped through a machine the traditional way so consumers don't have to carry two cards.

So far, Chase, the nation's biggest credit card issuer, has been leading the push for no-swipe payments. The company, which markets the new cards under the name "Blink," has issued them to roughly 5 million of its 100 million credit cardholders, including customers in Philadelphia and New York City, who received theirs last month.

Officials won't say when cardholders in Pittsburgh should expect their Blink cards, but note that the cards are available by request nationwide.

Other major card issuers also have begun limited rollouts, including American Express, MBNA, HSBC and Citibank, which is issuing no-swipe key fobs for contactless debit card purchases.

The new cards can shave the time it takes to pay for purchases by 20 percent to 40 percent, according to Tom O'Donnell, senior vice president of marketing at Chase.

"For fast-food or convenience store operators, seconds count," he said. "If customers see a string of taillights at the drive-through, they won't stop. At the convenience store, if all the spots in the lot are filled, they'll just keep going."

While actual savings at the checkout counter may only amount to a few seconds, more significant savings can come at drive-through windows, Mr. O'Donnell said, where tests showed customers using contactless cards at menu boards cut 20 to 30 seconds off the two minutes it typically takes to order, pay and get their food.

In another time-sparing concession in an age where every second counts, most credit card companies have stopped requiring signatures on purchases under $25.

Although some people worry that eliminating signatures on so-called convenience purchases could lead to more fraud, card issuers say those concerns are unfounded.

"You generally don't see fraud take place when people are buying soft drinks and a burrito or candy at the CVS," Mr. O'Donnell said, adding that consumers are not liable for fraudulent purchases on their cards.

He noted that more than $100 billion in credit card transactions already are made each year without a signature, such as mail order purchases and purchases at the gasoline pump.

"We already know consumers are comfortable not signing," he said.

No-swipe cards have raised additional concerns about security, however.

"Say you go to the pharmacy and pay cash, but you [inadvertently] hold the card close enough to the reader so that the vendor can cheat you by charging you and pocketing the cash," Mr. Buchner said. "I don't think that's a huge risk, but do you track your charges close enough to know that the extra $5 on your bill isn't yours?"

Chase's Mr. O'Donnell said that situation is not an issue.

For one thing, he said, the cards must be held extremely close to the reader, within two to four inches, to register a transaction. If the card is inside a wallet or purse, it would have to be held even closer. That's hard to do unintentionally, he said.

Secondly, if a payment registers, the customer will hear a tone and see a light flash on the scanning device.

"You will know if you've just paid with Blink," he said.

Some critics also worry that the technology could be vulnerable to electronic pickpockets moving through crowded locations, such as a subway car, with portable scanners surreptitiously lifting credit card numbers.

Mr. O'Donnell calls such concerns "science fiction scenarios."

"The cards are engineered to be safe," protected with dynamically encrypted codes that change with each transaction, he said.

"We can't come up with a scenario in terms of how [such theft] would work," he said.

Despite the time-saving advantages of no-swipe payments, analysts don't see the technology replacing standard swipe transactions any time soon.

"That's not something card companies are talking about," Mr. Buchner said. "It's for certain types of transactions. They're more interested in the incremental revenue of turning cash into credit."

For now, the focus is on persuading retailers to install the special card readers in locations where time counts most.

Nevertheless, card companies fighting for market share would like to be the first to offer the new technology to their cardholders.

"If they can give you this unique solution, you might get used to using their card," Mr. Buchner said.

"The holy grail is getting to the top of your wallet."