Apple Pay in transport: some users charged by mistake

For several weeks, New York City has been testing a new system to allow its travelers to pay for their fare on the local transportation network. This one is calledOMNY, and it is nothing more and nothing less than a terminal similar to those that can be found at Tisséo or the RATP, integrating an NFC chip capable of detecting both an Apple Watch and aiPhone.

The advantage put forward by the Big Apple is obvious: rather than having to buy a ticket or take the time to take it out of your wallet which itself is stored in your bag, you simply have tostick your phone near the sensorand that's it. We thus gain speed and there is less chance of finding yourself stuck in front of the security gates if you have forgotten your belongings when leaving home in a hurry.

The problem

TheMTA– pourMetropolitan Transportation Authority– which governs the organization of buses and other trains which travel through Manhattan and neighboring neighborhoods, publishes a soberly titled transport ticketMetroCard. Well known to locals, it has existed for longer and can be considered the equivalent of the Navigo Pass in Paris or the Pastel card in Toulouse.

But recently, some users realized that when they beeped their card on the terminal (which still accepts this means of payment), they weredebited… Twice. The first corresponds to the use of the MetroCard, and the second toApple Pay. The service is in fact compatible with OMNY, but would have been triggered by mistake, because the victims' smartphone would have beentoo closeof the terminal.

Around thirty people have already been affected throughout the city. We do not yet know if the MTA has a solution to avoid this kind of inconvenience, however there is a good chance that it is only a question of distance andsensitivityof the machine. If you travel to the United States: be careful, therefore.

In France, Apple PayTransport expressis still not available. In Europe, only London is already benefiting from it. But when we know that many mobility tools are keeping up with metropolises, such asGoogle Mapswhich offers public transport journeys in most capitals, it is probably only a few months before we see this program land here.