Hopefully they learn from Chicago’s experience. We switched from a proprietary contactless system to NFC about 4 years ago. The first 6 months were a disaster. But it works pretty well now. It is a little slower than a “perfect swipe” but in reality it’s time to move away from magnetic strip cards.
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New York City Plans to Replace Transit MetroCard With Electronic Card Readers That Support Apple Pay
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Oh I did! I was saying only the other day how much it has improved. It's actually hard to believe quite how much worse it was back then. I know NYC is not the cleanest of places particularly Manhattan, with such a dense population, but the subway is just particularly bad. I compared it to Hong Kong though as that's not massively dissimilar city wise and yet they manage to keep an excellent tube system.
In London, the "Oyster" card (a MIFARE RFID card) is extremely fast - virtually instantaneous. But using a contactless debit/credit card, or Apple Pay, does indeed add a slight delay of about 1 second or so.
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Hong Kong's MTR is much newer than New York's subway. The oldest parts of the MTR were only opened in 1979, so they've had the benefit of significantly improved designs and technology.
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"Standalone NFC-capable MetroCard" — that would be about $2 w/o balance. Has been in use in Singapore since 2002 (Google for "EZ-Link"). Some companies give it away for free as part of promotions and some credit cards can double for that purpose as well.
As New Yorker, I can't even tell you how awful MetroCards are. Sometimes it isn't even the way you swipe, it's the card itself or the machine that has broken down. They break down pretty often and at the worst times. You can only reload via the MetroCard machines, which create traffic jams at busy stations. And 1/4 of the MTA machines are always broken. As for slowing things down - the amount of instruction you have to give people on "how to swipe properly" is so dumb. Seriously. Make sure the card swipe bar is facing you. Don't swipe to fast or too slow. And still - tourists clog up the turnstiles. NFC cards are literally tap in, tap out. Oh you lost your MetroCard? Too bad. You're out whatever $ you loaded on it. (FTR I have an EasyPay MetroCard but it is also annoying.)
I also travel a lot and the company the MTA is sourcing to do this is the same company that transitioned London & Chicago to NFC cards. Those systems are AWESOME. You can reload the card online or through the app. Using your phone doesn't really take that much more time and in the end, it saves a lot of time. Most people will use the NFC cards vs phones - you tap in, tap out regardless of what you use. You have the choice. And that's really the key here. I love using my iPhone in London to get on the tube but I always take my Oyster card with me as well but I always have my phone out anyway so it's not really a hassle for me. I also liked being able to refill my Chicago Ventra card on my phone while I was on a bus and realized I had just used up the last of the $ that was on there. There were some growing pains with both when they were implemented but overall, so much better now.
MetroCards were on the edge of being out dated when they were implemented so by the time these new cards are in actual use here, there will already be something else but honestly even if take 5-7 years to get this done (which seems likely), I welcome it wholeheartedly.
As a native New Yorker, all I say is we're like Apple in a way, we wait until the technology has matured to our liking and maybe our bottom line (sometimes waiting too damn long). With that being said, I definitely won't miss the MetroCard. I did miss tokens for a while, but that probably had more to do with nostalgia for my childhood growing up in the city.
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You don't have to break your stride with the Oyster system either.
Why not? I understand if the app doesn't support it, but why couldn't an app in a phone provide receipts or budgeting (e.g., online or within app - you load X amount and it shows each trip).
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If New York were like Apple, then MTA would have stopped allowing use of farecards 5 years ago and allowed use only with electronic payments starting immediately.
Yeah I know, that is why my original comment focused on the cleanliness rather than bothering with the infrastructure. To fix the issues around that would require a number with more zeroes at the end of it!
As a fellow New Yorker, I ask - you don't really think this do you? the MTA is a mess for very different reasons than that. lol
While that's a nice upgrade (typical of Cuomo), I'd prefer that money go into fixing the ridiculously ancient infrastructure. Preventing the brutal subway delays that have plaguing NYC for months now would be really darn nice (previous years malarky not withstanding.) But...it's the MTA so who the heck am I kidding?
That's a good point. I think I'm probably projecting my own circumstances onto that, as I always have music or a Podcast playing when I'm wandering around with my iPhone. Turning on something to listen to is the first thing I do when leaving my flat, the office, etc. So I guess I always think I'd immediately spot if someone stole my phone, whereas if they took my wallet I might not notice for a minute or so.
It looks like my attempt to be sarcastic fell flat. My bad. I don't know if you grew up here or not, if you lived here for decades or not, but I did so I'm glaringly aware of all of the MTA's failures and the continued deterioration from the last century into this century, despite some minor improvements here and there (some station renovations for example). I remember when I was a kid during the 80s and 90s, how we went from the graffiti-ridden, dirty, unreliable, crime-infested (especially at night) system of the 80s and early 90s to the somewhat better, but still far from what it should be compared to other systems around the world system that we have today. It's a large, old system that would require a lot more aggressive action to fix, but we all know this city lives and dies according to the accessibility of the subway so really the only option is to fix it slowly, painfully and perhaps strategically as the deterioration continues in many spots.
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I didn't say it couldn't, I said it doesn't. Hence my point.
[doublepost=1508962909][/doublepost]TBH, I don't know why Apple didn't include a digital receipts function in Apple Pay/Apple Wallet.
It'd be really useful if you could buy stuff in physical shops and have a receipt either emailed to you, and/or have receipts section within the app.
It's still a pain to pay with Apple Pay, only for a paper receipt to be handed to you. Completely the opposite of the modern paperless experience.
Presumably Apple may add this in another 5 years, no doubt, as the 'amazing new feature' that takes another 3 years for a decent amount of retailers to adopt!
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Okay - I guess we're having a debate about what features a yet-to-be-detailed system will have. I read this part of the article to suggest that transaction info would at least be available online, but I suppose that might not be offered.
Simply because POS systems are quite different from retailer to retailer. There is currently no way to link a card transaction to an app that shows each individual item purchased. Only a total amount.
Sure, I guessed it was likely due to the plethora of POS interfaces out there. But would be nice to have... someday.
I suppose you could take a photo or mobile scan of the paper receipt and then trash it. But that is a fiddle if you have several each day, and if you want to return something one has to wonder if the retailer would accept a picture on your phone – no doubt many retailers wouldn't accept it, for security reasons (or anything else they felt like).
Retailers actually do as long as the barcode at the bottom is scannable. That’s the key though. For retailers without this barcode who knows.
Hey, at least we now have wifi to use while waiting for a train that's probably on fire somewhere...
Sunny Day
Sweepin' the clouds away
On my way to where the air is sweet
Can you tell me how to get,
How to get my...
^ Sounds way easier than using your phone or watch.
*fist bump*
Sweepin' the clouds away
On my way to where the air is sweet
Can you tell me how to get,
How to get my...
^ Sounds way easier than using your phone or watch.
*fist bump*