Will/could the railway adopt Apple/Android NFC passes?

[Bletchleyite]

With talk on another thread about the disadvantages of the s-ticket format (and let's be fair, it mostly does have disadvantages) could the railway consider using the NFC (rather than barcode) pass functionality of iOS and Android for season tickets?

These look like Wallet passes but instead of having a barcode they activate NFC for verification. Ticketmaster now seems to be making extensive use of them. Would these be secure enough to allow for season tickets without faffing around with the awkward re-issuing of s-tickets? Could they be offered as an option when buying e-tickets, as gatelines read NFC far more easily than barcodes?

 

[HSTEd]

Given that there is an Android compatible implementation of ITSO-compatible communications, I'm assuming there are no major technical hurdles here?

 

[vuzzeho]

I'm still waiting for TfL to add Oyster cards to Apple Pay. Other cities are doing it around the world (admittedly, not very many) and I'm surprised TfL won't yet.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm still waiting for TfL to add Oyster cards to Apple Pay. Other cities are doing it around the world (admittedly, not very many) and I'm surprised TfL won't yet.

Not much need when you can use contactless.

 

[stadler]

I'm still waiting for TfL to add Oyster cards to Apple Pay. Other cities are doing it around the world (admittedly, not very many) and I'm surprised TfL won't yet.

I doubt that will ever happen conaidering that the Oyster Card is very old outdated technology that is over twenty years old. It is the only non ITSO smartcard left in the UK still in use. So i doubt doing that would even be possible. I highly doubt that the technology is compatible.

 

[jon0844]

I'm still waiting for TfL to add Oyster cards to Apple Pay. Other cities are doing it around the world (admittedly, not very many) and I'm surprised TfL won't yet.

At some point TfL needs to work on phasing out the current Oyster card system for a backend based system like other smartcards. By all means keep the branding, allow discounts to be applied to an account (railcard, child etc) and job done.

Oyster now causes loads of issues on account of it not being possible to extend to match where contactless goes (and will go), with groups of people arriving at some stations using a mix of contactless and Oyster, and the latter getting PFd. Many maps are somewhat confusing with a mix of zones based on different payment types, so we really don't need to develop anything new to work with Oyster - just replace it.

 

[AlastairFraser]

With talk on another thread about the disadvantages of the s-ticket format (and let's be fair, it mostly does have disadvantages) could the railway consider using the NFC (rather than barcode) pass functionality of iOS and Android for season tickets?

These look like Wallet passes but instead of having a barcode they activate NFC for verification. Ticketmaster now seems to be making extensive use of them. Would these be secure enough to allow for season tickets without faffing around with the awkward re-issuing of s-tickets? Could they be offered as an option when buying e-tickets, as gatelines read NFC far more easily than barcodes?

With season tickets, they can already be loaded onto reusable NFC smartcards with some operators (e.g. Northern), so I don't see any huge benefits of necessarily having a smartphone-based NFC ticket.

However, E tickets as NFC would significantly reduce dwell times at gates, and loading these to both smartcards and smartphones would provide 2 very good options for seamless ticketing. The TOCs should defo be encouraged to explore this option.

 

[jon0844]

The newer barcode readers (white light) seem quicker than the communication process between pad and card/watch/phone. They don't even need you to line up the Aztec code super accurately or close.

The biggest problem is that people need to find their ticket to display on their phone and some seem to do it when they've reached the gate. In that regard, tapping would be better but only if the phone could know what to present (so it 'sends' the e-ticket and doesn't just make a tap from your default card). I expect that this could confuse matters and lead to a lot of people tapping the wrong thing.

 

[signed]

NFC using an app is notably finnicky on some Android versions, and is straight up impossible on iOS. You would then need a partnership with Apple + Google at the very least

I'm still waiting for TfL to add Oyster cards to Apple Pay. Other cities are doing it around the world (admittedly, not very many) and I'm surprised TfL won't yet.

Apple wants their cut for the privilege, this is why it took that long to arrive in Paris

 

[Thirteen]

Replacing Oyster should be a priority for TfL though I'm not sure if it would be inhouse or use Cubic like they did before. Something similar to OMNY would be cool with digital readers.

 

[mattdickinson]

Nexus offer this in Newcastle for use on the metro, and TfWM ran a trial on the West Midlands Metro.

 

[Russel]

If part of the goal is to speed up the gateline process, one quick fix to speed up the current scanning of e-tickets would be to ensure the glass above the scanner is cleaned on a regular basis, I don't know how often they are currently cleaned but I'm noticing more and more that the glass is covered in muck.

 

[Nick Ashwell]

With season tickets, they can already be loaded onto reusable NFC smartcards with some operators (e.g. Northern), so I don't see any huge benefits of necessarily having a smartphone-based NFC ticket.

I keep a pack of multi flex tickets on my phone because of how easy it is to forget my smart card, it would reduce my cost a fair bit but don't know how representative I am

 

[vuzzeho]

Not much need when you can use contactless.

I use a Travelcard (and a student Oyster) so it's actually super useful for me. I would just use Contactless if not.

 

[AlastairFraser]

I keep a pack of multi flex tickets on my phone because of how easy it is to forget my smart card, it would reduce my cost a fair bit but don't know how representative I am

I'm not sure if your scenario is particularly common, but it does highlight the redundancy that multiple modes of presenting a rail ticket provide. The airlines do this, so it would be entirely logical for the railway to implement it.