NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Google has announced plans to launch public transit ticketing for more than 80 cities globally in coming weeks from its trip-planning Maps app and also to enable users to buy virtual closed-loop fare cards–starting with the Clipper card in the San Francisco Bay Area–directly from the app. That’s in addition to enabling payments for parking in more than 400 U.S. cities.
Google has been testing the public transit ticketing option feature in Maps–with a link to its Google Pay wallet–for nearly a year, with NFC Times first reporting the move by the search giant last July. The announcement of the support for Clipper was also expected, although the ability to buy the card directly from Maps, with a link to Google Pay, is new. In a disclosure likely timed to match Google’s announcement, Apple also said Wednesday it would support Clipper in Apple Pay, while not saying when exactly. Apple has been enabling other U.S. closed-loop fare cards in recent months, such as those in Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Chicago.
Google in September launched parking payments from Maps in Austin, Texas, with Passport, one of the technology suppliers it is using for the U.S. nationwide parking-payments service rollout. Google said Wednesday it would also work with ParkMobile on the rollout.
