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Comment by djhworld | Hacker News Reader

The last time I got a paper ticket for a TfL journey was at the olympic games in 2012 where I think they gave you one for free if you had a ticket for one of the sporting events.

Other then that I just used my Oyster card. I don't live in London any more, but I've been back for visits/work and I've had no issues using Google or Apple Pay for contactless tap ins/outs - it's all very seamless. It's really impressive tbh and it's a shame this sort of system isn't rolled out to other cities in the UK, or at least is has patchy support.

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Checking in and out by phone was recently rolled out nationally in the Netherlands, but at a slightly higher cost than the subscriber's card. It works on every train, metro, tram and bus in the country. The subscribers get the additional benefit of being able to hire bicycles from the train stations also.

> but at a slightly higher cost than the subscriber's card

Since when as that's actually illegal for the NS to do. (It doesn't)

From the ovpay.nl website: "En de prijs? Die is hetzelfde als reizen met je OV-chipkaart."

My understanding is that that's the same cost as an anonymous blue card, not the yellow card subscribers have, meaning you'll pay the extra 40% on the train for example.

AFAIK this is true if you have the various 'plans' on your personal (yellow) card, which comes with additional cost. The 40% discount is there with one of these https://www.ns.nl/en/season-tickets/

Ah, I get you, thanks. I think I've just never met anyone that didn't have a season ticket.

So mobile payments, the blue card and the yellow card without season tickets are operationally identical from the user's standpoint?

Yes that's what I think, unless of course I missed something

You are right, it is identical. I would argue not just from the user's standpoint, but I guess that's not super relevant here.

But then what I don't understand is what's that point of becoming a subscriber and getting a yellow card?

- Being able to use an OV Fiets. This requires putting a free subscription on the card.

- Automatically adding money to the card's balance when it runs low

- Getting back the money on the card when it expires

- Senior discounts for people over 65

- Being able to add a subscription when you do want one for a while

That's super helpful, thank you. I guess for most people not using subscriptions the main reason was the automatic saldo, but now with mobile pay that's not an issue. No need to get your money back either, though I was under the impression that this is now also possible with anonymous cards.

Manchester is slowly limping out the Bee Network (or whatever it's called now) which is modelled on Oyster. Tram and local train journeys can be mixed on a touch in/out system and the buses are to be included as the route contracts end.

I occasionally still use paper tickets, since if you book train travel that requires changing London terminals (e.g. come in through Waterloo, leave from King's Cross) your ticket is valid for the underground connection, and even if you book it digitally it'll give you a reference to collect a paper ticket rather than a QR code for (I assume) that reason. (Yes, I've made the mistake of forgetting/not realising to collect it!)

There is a project at the moment to expand TfL's contactless payments to most stations across the southeast of England.

Further expansion will be dependent on government funding.

Assuming they re-nationalise the railways, I merely hope we extend the scheme to work everywhere. Tap in and tap out is the right UX imo

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