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Apple Transit Express

Posted by (San Francisco area) on

I had heard about this feature and set it up before a recent trip to London. I have an Oyster card and I used both my phone and the Oyster card on alternate days to test it out. The phone was just as fast as the Oyster card. I can confirm that daily cap was applied when using the phone.

Basically what transit express does is eliminate the need for you to wake up your phone and login to Apple wallet. Just tap your phone on the pad. I noticed that my phone registered the tap even before it made physical contact with the pad. Worked well enough that I’ll probably turn in my Oyster card. One less thing to remember to bring and carry around.

More info about it here.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT209495

More about where it can be used.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207958

Hopefully there is a similar feature for android users? Maybe via Samsung pay?

Posted by
3522 posts

Yes, this works very well. It showed no noticeable time difference, for me, than the Oyster as far as the response and opening of the barrier. Of course as with anything, Your Results May Vary.

And the good news is the function is smart enough to only work with readers that are transit related. You will always have to unlock the iPhone for any other type of payment.

EDIT: Expanded my original response a bit.

Posted by
399 posts

Thanks for posting this. Heading back to London in a couple of days. From your experience, was there a slight lag when you tapped in when you used express transit? I have used my IPhone before without the express transit setting and there was always a slight delay compared to my Oyster card. It usually wasn’t an issue but if I was in a longer line, I felt the folks behind me thought my 1/2 second delay my IPhone caused seemed like it was a 5 second delay.

Posted by
1888 posts

For me it was very similar to using an Oyster card. If there was a lag it was miniscule. Going through the fare gates with a line of people the phone registered payment before the gates could close.

Enjoy your trip.

Posted by
2766 posts

Thanks for this report - it's reassuring.
Glad to hear about having to unlock for any other kinds of payments,
because I've had a bit of paranoia since getting the Apple Card that I am going to be charged for transactions going on in my vicinity not just that aren't mine but that I'm not even aware of.
(I've had moments in the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco where the lock screen will light up and ask me if I want to pay with passcode when I'm nowhere near a checkout line as far as I can tell.)

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