Originally Posted by
kebosabi
That ideally would be the dream for me: the ability to use my $0 FTF credit card with EMV and contactless capability, to tap-n-go for all transit everywhere. No more TAP card for Los Angeles, NY MetroCard for NYC, no more OV Chipkaart for Amsterdam, Suica/PASMO for Tokyo, etc. etc.
This reminds me of a humorous hack people at MIT were doing awhile back, which involved dissolving the plastic of a CharlieCard in acetone, and then removing the back of an iPhone and sticking the remains (chip and antenna) inside the phone so you can tap with your phone. Obviously, it isn't interacting with the phone, so it's a just a crude hack, but it was funny because it reminded me of a way to not have to carry physical cards around!
Originally Posted by
kebosabi
It specifically says "you can use contactless bank credit and debit cards" and it mentions that you need to tap off so that the proper fare can be charged. If a SLC can do it (and they're not even the biggest transit agency in the US), I doubt it can't be done elsewhere.
There shouldn't be any reason for it not to be implemented anywhere from a technical standpoint. Especially where most of the heavy lifting was already done back when systems switched from the old token-based systems to electronic systems. That was a much bigger initiative than simply having to change the type of electronic system (and even less work for places that already have RFID as their core) and also involved a bigger change/learning curve for customers. Regarding SLC--that is actually an easier/more ideal "showcase" city since the system is smaller and, while it is used a lot (I used to go there to ski a lot, and almost moved there once) it isn't as crucial to the city's daily existence as cities in the northeast. If someone had really screwed-up the implementation, it wouldn't affect the city as much as, say, NYC or Boston where so many people live without cars.
One side note that came to mind, since I've overheard it twice in the last week. In other scenarios where places like a work/school cafeteria or something has changed from a proprietary debit card (ie, work/school ID) to credit cards, there's always one person who complains "I don't want all these small charges showing up on my statement". I'm not sure why people care, since that's really the CC company's problem to keep track of all your charges. And as far as worrying about missing fraudulent charges amongst them, it isn't that big a deal to look through, plus that's why I also have notifications enabled for every purchase. But, it just struck me as yet another fear that some people seem to have towards using CCs like this, especially since RFID focuses on small, frequent charges.