Category: NFC

While I am not a New Yorker (I live in the quiet mountains of Colorado), when I do go to Gotham I always pre-load a MetroCard.  The card is your ticket, literally, to getting around the various subway lines of the city.  It was introduced in the 1990s, replacing the coin token system, and it has been a reasonable way of getting through the system.  But New York’s Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) also feels the cards are outmoded for today’s world.

MTA has thus turned to NFC, or Near Field Communication.  Through a $573 million contract, the MetroCard will be replaced with NFC at turnstiles.  This will allow users with NFC enabled credit and debit cards as well as Android Pay, Samsung Pay and Apple Pay users to pay for a fare simply by tapping their phone to the terminal.  The new system will be very similar to the system that is used by the London Transit Authority for the Underground in London.

The new system will begin rolling out in late 2018 and by 2023, the MetroCard will be phased out completely.

Android Pay has received another round of banks and financial institutions that support the tap-and-pay service, including Capital One (finally).  In all, there are 48 new banks and financial institutions added to the service, ranging from big nationals to small local banks and Credit Unions.  It is just the latest in what has turned into a series of updates to the service and the institutions that support it for their customers.  These new additions mean that customers can add their debit card from a supported bank and use it to pay for things at a touch terminal.

This should come as a surprise to no one but Google has decided that their recently purchased Softcard NFC purchasing solution will shortly terminate their support for Windows Phone.  The purchase was made just this week and one of the first questions that came up was if Windows Phone support would continue.  Given that Google and Microsoft are not exactly bestest buddies, it seemed like a long shot that support would continue.