Public transportation users in Scotland can now use a smart transit card issued by any of a group of 16 different bus, rail and subway operators to travel on all the services provided by any of the other members of the group... More
Bus passengers turning to contactless in record numbers, says First Group — Yahoo! Finance — “More bus passengers paid with contactless and mobile apps rather than cash on First Group’s local bus routes for the first time in its history, the company has revealed. According to bosses, 43% of payments were made by cash, with 45% made through non-cash methods, in the latest push towards a cashless society. The remainder came from ticket sales via third parties.”
New Metrolink fares unveiled — Transport for Greater Manchester — “The new early bird offer will utilise Metrolink’s new contactless payment system, which has been used to make more than 1 million journeys following its introduction on 15 July… A survey from last year’s Early Bird pilot showed 53% of customers who had used an early bird ticket had shifted either their journey time (28%), their mode (9%) or both. 48% of customers who changed mode shifted from car and 24% from bus.”
One in five contactless payments on London’s public transportation network are now made using a mobile phone or other non-card device, Transport for London (TfL) has revealed... More
UK-based DressCode has begun offering a range of tailored men’s shirts that include a contactless payments module incorporated into the sleeve cuff... More
Just under half of British consumers are ready to completely replace traditional verification methods with biometrics for withdrawing cash (46%), starting their car (45%) and unlocking their front door (41%), according to new research from Equifax... More
Starling Bank launches euro debit card so business and personal customers can spend in two currencies with one card — Starling Bank — “To start using the new Euro Card feature, Starling account holders, both business and personal, must open a euro account… Once it’s open, they can transfer money from their business account to their euro account with a single tap in the app… Their existing debit card can [then] be switched on (in-app) to operate in either pounds or euros, depending on the currency of the transaction.”
Public transportation operator First Group has begun a pilot of a new mobile ticketing service that uses host card emulation (HCE) to let customers with an Android NFC phone purchase a bus ticket, provision it to Google Pay and then use their smartphone to tap an on-board contactless reader when they board a bus... More
China remains the country with by far the highest mobile payments adoption rate, with 81.1% of smartphone owners making use of the technology, eMarketer reports... More
Mastercard has signed up four WHSmith retail brands for Pay by Bank (PbBa), a strong customer authentication-compliant payments service that uses customers’ mobile banking apps and the UK’s faster payments system to let online retailers accept payments direct from shoppers’ bank accounts... More
The UK government has introduced an iOS version of its EU Exit: ID Document Check app, enabling EU citizens to use the NFC passport reading capabilities Apple has introduced in iOS 13 to register for settled status in the UK... More
PARTNER NEWS: Cilab’s ci230 high-speed testing suite has made it possible for self-service payments leader Invenco to significantly improve the time it takes to develop, test and bring to market EMV-compliant NFC payment terminals for its customers, chief engineer Chris Henry has told NFC World... More
A new deal between Google and Cubic Transportation Systems is set to make it possible for public transport users in a number of major cities around the world to use Google Pay to add their transit card to their NFC mobile phone... More
Rail passengers are now choosing to use ‘smart tickets’ for half of all the journeys they make, the UK’s Rail Delivery Group (RTG) has revealed, paving the way for the introduction of a wide array of innovative new fare structures... More
The UK’s Royal Mint has unveiled a payment card that is produced entirely from 18-karat gold and comes with “no spending limit”... More
The UK’s NatWest bank has begun a three-month pilot of a biometric credit card that enables customers to make contactless transactions of up to £100 (US$123) instead of the usual maximum value of £30 (US$37)... More
Public transportation users in South Yorkshire can now purchase bus, tram and train tickets online and then transfer their ticket onto their smart travel card using the NFC contactless card writing capabilities that Apple has made available in iOS13... More
UK-based neobank Revolut has implemented a Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) system that lets customers use their mobile banking app to authenticate their contactless card as they get close to reaching the new contactless transaction limit, avoiding the risk of having their card declined when they next attempt to make an in-store purchase... More
UK-based neobank Monzo is to use app notifications to provide customers who have a contactless card transaction declined due to new Strong Customer Authentication (SCA) requirements with the information needed for them to successfully complete their transaction... More
Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has added a manned till and two self-checkout stations to the London store it opened in April as the UK’s first checkout-free supermarket... More