NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Following a successful launch of its closed-loop Mifare-based transit payments service, myki, with Google Pay, Melbourne, Australia, transit authority Public Transport Victoria has allocated AU$1 million to expand the service onto other smartphone platforms, including iOS and the iPhone, an agency spokeswoman confirmed to NFC Times.
The transit authority, which has shunned open-loop payments in favor of continued support for its closed-loop service, yesterday announced that since launching “Mobile myki” with Google Pay in late March, nearly 100,000 have “used” it. UPDATE: But NFC Times has learned that this “user” figure consists only of people who have downloaded the Mobile myki onto their Android NFC phones. END UPDATE.
The transit authority, PTV, did not release figures on actual usage of the mobile transit payments service. But it’s clear that interest in the service is growing. PTV is reporting around 1,000 activations of Mobile myki per day, according to the agency.