You can now pay for London Underground rides with Apple Pay Express Mode

Posted:
in iPhone edited December 2019
After months of work and trials, Apple Pay's Express Mode has been activated across the entire London public transportation system, allowing users to tap and pay for rides without Face ID or Touch ID authentication.




Apple Pay's Express Mode can now be used across all zones of London's public transit system. Apple says that it can be used across the overground, DLR, river, TFL-Rail, buses, and trams, in addition to the Underground. Apple notes that other payments beyond TfL services will still require authentication.

Introduced as part of iOS 12.3, Express Transit allows iPhone owners to use their devices to pay for travel through a public transport system, without needing Face ID or Touch ID authentication to wake the iPhone at every point it is required. By enabling the transactions to occur without authentication, this saves precious seconds, which for transit systems hosting millions of passengers, could save considerable amounts of time and enable more people to travel with less friction.

Express mode will still work up to five hours after the Power Reserve icon appears on the iPhone XR or newer. However, those reliant on the technology should probably still carry a reserve battery, just in case, as after the reserve is gone completely, there is no way to authenticate.

So far, Express Transit has gone live on Portland's TriMet and C-Tran buses, MAX light rail, and the Portland Street Car, as well as other implementations covering areas of Japan as well as Beijing and Shanghai in China. New York's MTA started working for select lines in June 2019, with wider accessibility planned by the end of 2020.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 11
    The notification I got on my watch was a bit confusing, it just looked like it was telling me I could use my card to travel the way I always had been. This is very cool though, it sucks when you're at the front of the herd trying to get through the gates and face id fails.
  • Reply 2 of 11
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    I used this in Tokyo last month, with the Suica card (1st time visiting). I was blown away with how seamless and easy it made everything. Also surprised at how few countries support it.
    tokyojimuargonaut
  • Reply 3 of 11
    Used it today here in Shanghai. So convenient and better than QR codes. 

    Note that I don’t think NYC uses Express Transit. It’s just a regular credit card transaction so you have to authenticate. 
    lostkiwi
  • Reply 4 of 11
    tokyojimu said:

    Note that I don’t think NYC uses Express Transit. It’s just a regular credit card transaction so you have to authenticate. 
    Nope, it’s slowly becoming active in NYC with no authentication needed. The busses on Staten Island and select sections of the 4/5/6 line are already up and running. Parts of the the 1/2/3 line are going live this month and the full system will be using it by the end of next year. It works like a charm. First time MTA has done something right in a long time. It’s all detailed at Omni.info
    lostkiwi
  • Reply 5 of 11
    Apple took out lots of ad space in this London station to promote it.
    watto_cobralostkiwicaladanianargonaut
  • Reply 6 of 11
    sflagelsflagel Posts: 803member
    Does anyone know if this improves only payments with the iPhone, or also with Apple Watch? I have been using the Apple Watch on the tube for years but unfortunately, it fails at least twice a week, causing delays and some embarrassment (anything to do with tokenisation? I don’t know). 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 11
    Very cool this, didn't realise it was coming so soon. Worked a treat on both the phone and AW - existing cards easily configured to support this. Can't wait to try it out tomorrow on my commute.
    watto_cobralostkiwiargonaut
  • Reply 8 of 11
    I used Apple Pay on my recent London trip. In fact, since none of my credit (or debit) cards were 'contectless' Apple Pay was the ONLY way to use the Underground. The London Transit Systems is SO much better than what's here in the Bay Area. My son tells me that some of the NYC Subways now accept Apple Pay. 
    lostkiwicaladanian
  • Reply 9 of 11
    This is a really great iteration to ApplePay. It's going to really speed up those people who wouldn't pre-authorise before getting to the barrier. For those of us used to pre-authorising the payment, that still seems to be quicker at registering and open the barrier. (I wonder what percentage of ApplePay transactions are on TFL/Public Transport 🤔)
  • Reply 10 of 11
    ...for transit systems hosting millions of passengers...

    In London it's more like 1.35 billion passengers per year...
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