I don't know about where you live but here contactless card payments have lower limits than phone-based ones. Also the phone allows me to switch between multiple cards, including transit-specific cards.
In UK, my credit card was my transit card. I find it easier to navigate my physical wallet than a phone for such things. Personal opinion.
In any case, banking apps that don't function on graphene should be embarrassed by their stupidity. Amex forces sms/email 2fa to login on my graphene phone, when chase, fidelity and several other bank apps do not.