Apple Pay for Transit Now Works in These 12 U.S. Cities

[MacRumors]

Several major U.S. cities support the Apple Pay for transit feature that Apple has rolled out, providing a simple way for those who use public transportation to pay for rides.

Apple Pay for transit works in Atlanta, the Bay Area, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Orange County, Philadelphia, Portland, San Diego, Seattle, and Washington, DC.

Some of these cities have supported Apple Pay for transit purposes for several years, and in others like Atlanta, support is new as of 2026. Atlanta launched its tap-to-pay MARTA contactless system in March 2026, allowing iPhone and Apple Watch users to tap to pay their fares at rail station fare gates using the Apple Wallet app.

Cities that support Apple Pay for transit allow iPhone owners to turn on Express Mode to pay for transit fares without needing to unlock their device and authenticate with Face ID or Touch ID. A card for Express Transit can be selected by opening up the Wallet and Apple Pay section of the Settings app and tapping on the Express Transit Card option to make a selection.

When a credit or debit card is associated with Express Mode, it can be used to pay for transit automatically with no authentication. On iPhone models that support power reserve, transit payments can also be made when the iPhone is out of battery. Power reserve works for up to five hours after an iPhone dies, and it is available on the iPhone XS and later.

Some cities support adding a credit or debit card to the Wallet app for transit, while others require a specific transit card to be added to the Wallet app. The Bay Area works with the Clipper app or a credit card. Chicago's system only works with the Ventra card, LA's transit works with the TAP card, and Portland's transit system works with the Hop card.

In some locations, there's also support for fare capping. With New York's OMNY system, for example, subway and local bus fares are capped at $35 per week. As long as you use the same device each time you tap pay for a ride, rides after the $35 cap will be free for the rest of the seven-day period. LA's TAP system and OC's Wave system also support fare capping for Apple Pay.

The iPhone 6s and 2016 iPhone SE and later all support Express Mode with Apple Pay for transit purposes. Express Mode also works on the Apple Watch Series 1 or later as long as watchOS 5.2.1 or later is installed.

Apple Pay for transit also works in several cities around the world, including London, Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Toronto, Beijing, and Shanghai.

When traveling, you will need to look into how transit works in the city you're in, but it is a simple way to use public transportation because there's no need to pre-purchase travel tickets at a kiosk. Apple has a website where the different transit systems are explained.

Article Link: Apple Pay for Transit Now Works in These 12 U.S. Cities

 

[germanbeer007]

not sure what's the point when Waymo and Tesla robotaxis are going to make these legacy transit options obsolete.

 

[Jayayess1190]

not sure what's the point when Waymo and Tesla robotaxis are going to make these legacy transit options obsolete.

The point is public transit can move volumes more people and will be cheaper than those.

 

[dannyyankou]

I hope they add it for some smaller cities outside the NYC metro area. They added OMNY for Westchester busses, and they’re going to add OMNY to Metro North trains this year.

 

[dontwalkhand]

There’s also a lot of cities that take Apple Pay directly on the reader, and just aren’t listed here, probably because they didn’t pay Apple. Dallas, Miami, etc all let you Apple Pay directly on fareboxes. Miami has Express Transit working as well.

Guess somehow Miami isn’t worthy of Apple advertising that it works, but somehow Orange County does…

 

[dontwalkhand]

not sure what's the point when Waymo and Tesla robotaxis are going to make these legacy transit options obsolete.

Why move 200 people at once, when you can move 3?!

 

[germanbeer007]

The point is public transit can move volumes more people and will be cheaper than those.

cheaper? hardly. they're subsidized by tax payers. volume is also hardly the full picture.

 

[germanbeer007]

Why move 200 people at once, when you can move 3?!

move 200 people at 1000x the cost (factor in total cost) over moving 3?

 

[dontwalkhand]

move 200 people at 1000x the cost (factor in total cost) over moving 3?

One helps build beautiful cities, the other just encourages ugly sprawl. 100x the cost? That is negated by the economic development of those beautiful cities mentioned. You can keep your Tesla tunnels and ugly cities like Vegas. I will keep enjoying SF and even friggin Dallas. Yes, Dallas looks better than Vegas, because the areas around the rail stations are beautiful, and Vegas, is ugly and.. Vegas. Guess which one went for rail, and the other went for Teslas?

PS…I even drive a Tesla, so not just hating on Tesla.

All the cities that people actually you know want to spend time in have rail. Even Miami, Dallas, even Houston (as ugly as Houston is), Phoenix (same here for that matter), and cities that people want to spend the least time in, like Las Vegas, went for Tesla tunnels. LOL.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

not sure what's the point when Waymo and Tesla robotaxis are going to make these legacy transit options obsolete.

Yea, those are going to work well for the months of snow and ice covered streets we have here during the winter, where you can even see the lines on the road.

 

[dontwalkhand]

Yea, those are going to work well for the months of snow and ice covered streets we have here during the winter, where you can even see the lines on the road.

Also, I have watched Waymo’s cut across 3 lanes of traffic, drive people onto active rail tracks, and other things that should cause people to shun these stupid things. Tech bro transit is not transit.

 

[germanbeer007]

One helps build beautiful cities, the other just encourages ugly sprawl.

Oh if only there was a company that has the capability to build thousands of miles of tunnels underground, beautifying cities above ground
Oh that's right:

The Boring Company

The Boring Company constructs safe, fast-to-dig, and low-cost transportation, utility, and freight tunnels.

www.boringcompany.com

100x the cost? That is negated by the economic development of those beautiful cities mentioned.

Boring company can beautify the cities and cost far less than a subway.

FYI trains have huge negative externalities above ground. Extremely loud, rumble the buildings nearby, train yards are extremely bad for the environment, etc..

Also government data shows Teslas are on average more energy efficient than trains. Tesla robotaxis are simply way better for cities than legacy public transport. And it's only going to get better with the robovan (higher capacity)

 

[seek3r]

not sure what's the point when Waymo and Tesla robotaxis are going to make these legacy transit options obsolete.

…please tell me this is sarcasm… you think waymo and tesla are going to, say, replace the 2.3 *billion* rides the NYC Subway gets every year (and that’s not even counting the busses, LIRR, NJ Transit, Metro North, or PATH)? On what planet?

 

[germanbeer007]

Yea, those are going to work well for the months of snow and ice covered streets we have here during the winter, where you can even see the lines on the road.

trains above ground shutdown in snow easily (source: I've been to Japan). and you don't need to see lines on the road to drive a car safely. millions do everyday. as long as a human can do a task from some visual signal, AI can do the same.

 

[dontwalkhand]

Oh if only there was a company that has the capability to build thousands of miles of tunnels underground, beautifying cities above ground
Oh that's right:

The Boring Company

The Boring Company constructs safe, fast-to-dig, and low-cost transportation, utility, and freight tunnels.

www.boringcompany.com

Boring company can beautify the cities and cost far less than a subway.

FYI trains have huge negative externalities above ground. Extremely loud, rumble the buildings nearby, etc..

Oh if only there was a company that has the capability to build thousands of miles of tunnels underground, beautifying cities above ground
Oh that's right:

The Boring Company

The Boring Company constructs safe, fast-to-dig, and low-cost transportation, utility, and freight tunnels.

www.boringcompany.com

Boring company can beautify the cities and cost far less than a subway.

FYI trains have huge negative externalities above ground. Extremely loud, rumble the buildings nearby, etc..

I lived next to my train station for well over a decade, and I have never felt a train from the building…The Tesla tunnels are literally just single lanes, with regular human drivers. That is hardly innovation. Just because you made the tunnel look like a gaming PC, does not mean it’s futuristic.

Also, Las Vegas makes transit mistakes over and over, and this one will just be another one of those mistakes. (The other mistakes include, not allowing monorail go to the airport, building bus rapid transit, and then making it, less rapid and wondering why people don’t use it, not going with light rail on Maryland parkway, etc etc)….If you want a city that does public transit wrong each and every time, look no further than Vegas! (The Vegas tunnels will be yet another Vegas transit failure)

 

[germanbeer007]

…please tell me this is sarcasm… you think waymo and tesla are going to, say, replace the 2.3 *billion* rides the NYC Subway gets every year (and that’s not even counting the busses, LIRR, NJ Transit, Metro North, or PATH)? On what planet?

you should look up:

The Boring Company

The Boring Company constructs safe, fast-to-dig, and low-cost transportation, utility, and freight tunnels.

www.boringcompany.com

 

[dontwalkhand]

trains above ground shutdown in snow easily (source: I've been to Japan). and you don't need to see lines on the road to drive a car safely. millions do everyday. as long as a human can do a task from some visual signal, AI can do the same.

AI? So it will take a town’s worth of water, to drive someone’s Uber….

 

[WarmWinterHat]

trains above ground shutdown in snow easily (source: I've been to Japan). and you don't need to see lines on the road to drive a car safely. millions do everyday. as long as a human can do a task from some visual signal, AI can do the same.

AI can't properly spell strawberry half the time, and it sure as hell can't drive in inclement weather when the front of the car is packed with snow and ice.

Come on dude... This is tech bro nonsense.

 

[germanbeer007]

I lived next to my train station for well over a decade, and I have never felt a train from the building…The Tesla tunnels are literally just single lanes, with regular human drivers. That is hardly innovation. Just because you made the tunnel look like a gaming PC, does not mean it’s futuristic.

Also, Las Vegas makes transit mistakes over and over, and this one will just be another one of those mistakes. (The other mistakes include, not allowing monorail go to the airport, building bus rapid transit, and then making it, less rapid and wondering why people don’t use it, not going with light rail on Maryland parkway, etc etc)….If you want a city that does public transit wrong each and every time, look no further than Vegas! (The Vegas tunnels will be yet another Vegas transit failure)

I lived in Machiya in Japan for a few months. The overhead trains rumble all the neighboring buildings every few minutes.

the innovation is construction speed and low cost (scalability).

Las Vegas enjoys the Loop and they've gladly accepted Boring Company to self fund (because it's low cost, they don't need tax dollars) the 60+mile loop. I'm not sure why you're against that idea when all the risk is taken on by the company and not the city.

 

[germanbeer007]

AI can't properly spell strawberry half the time

If you think Waymo is using just an llm to drive, you're severely mistaken.

and it sure as hell can't drive in inclement weather.

they already are doing this.

 

[dontwalkhand]

…please tell me this is sarcasm… you think waymo and tesla are going to, say, replace the 2.3 *billion* rides the NYC Subway gets every year (and that’s not even counting the busses, LIRR, NJ Transit, Metro North, or PATH)? On what planet?

Even the crappiest transit rail systems in America like the VTA Light Rail in San Jose, CA; can move way more people than any Waymo can.

 

[sw1tcher]

Oh if only there was a company that has the capability to build thousands of miles of tunnels underground, beautifying cities above ground
Oh that's right:

The Boring Company

The Boring Company constructs safe, fast-to-dig, and low-cost transportation, utility, and freight tunnels.

www.boringcompany.com

Thousands of miles?

Haven't seen any recent updates to this. Have they drilled more than 2.4 miles yet?

In Seven Years, Elon Musk's Boring Company Has Only Drilled 2.4 Miles of Tunnel

As Fortune reports, Elon Musk's Boring Company has only completed a measly 2.4 miles of operational tunnels in its seven-year existence.

futurism.com

In Seven Years, Elon Musk’s Boring Company Has Only Drilled 2.4 Miles of Tunnel

 

[germanbeer007]

AI? So it will take a town’s worth of water, to drive someone’s Uber….

That's not how it works. Inference is done locally.

 

[germanbeer007]

Thousands of miles?

Haven't seen any recent updates to this. Have they drilled more than 2.4 miles yet?

In Seven Years, Elon Musk's Boring Company Has Only Drilled 2.4 Miles of Tunnel

As Fortune reports, Elon Musk's Boring Company has only completed a measly 2.4 miles of operational tunnels in its seven-year existence.

futurism.com

In Seven Years, Elon Musk’s Boring Company Has Only Drilled 2.4 Miles of Tunnel

"has the capability" key phrase you completely missed.

 

[sw1tcher]

not sure what's the point when Waymo and Tesla robotaxis are going to make these legacy transit options obsolete.

Speed.

Autonomous vehicles travel less distance per hour than rail.