NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – There’s more evidence that popular trip-planning apps Transit, Moovit and Google Maps are seeking to expand further into mobile ticketing and payments from their platforms, NFC Times has learned.
Google, for example, appears to be pressing ahead with plans to enable ticketing and payments initiated in its Google Maps app and involving Google Pay, with NFC Times confirming that a Southern California public transit agency plans to let users book and pay for rides this way by the end of the year, using technology from U.S.-based Token Transit. As NFC Times reported last month, Google is testing this technology with three other, small, transit agencies in the U.S., the first such foray by Google into enabling mobile ticketing for public transit agencies from Google Maps.
Payments for the trials can be handled by Google Pay, which already enables transit fare payments using open- and closed-loop cards, but not for ticketing based on searches in Google Maps. The agencies involved in the tests are based in Stockton, Calif., Kalamazoo, Mich., and Bradenton, Fla., respectively. They’ve suspended fare collection until further notice because of the coronavirus pandemic, but users still can book, download and redeem the mobile tickets, for which they are not charged.
