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On the London transport network you've been able to pay at the barriers with a contactless credit card in the same way as you would use an Oyster card for a cou

On the London transport network you've been able to pay at the barriers with a contactless credit card in the same way as you would use an Oyster card for a couple of years now. It's weird that other transport networks haven't adopted it yet

jahnu 9y ago
Such a system has been in use in Singapore for more than 15 years. Vienna does away with all of this fuss by simply doing random checks, issuing on the spot fines for fare evaders, and not having to manage the expense of turnstiles etc.
- srssays 9y ago
  How do you pay for tickets in Vienna then? I kind of like the barriers, if you are on the station platform, then you have definitely paid. For me, the stations that don't have barriers are more stressful, as you run the risk of forgetting to tap your card (or the tap not registering) and incurring a maximum fare.
  - thaumasiotes 9y ago
    Maximum fare?? The fine for fare evasion should be well above the maximum fare.
    - pacaro 9y ago
      Or, looking at it from a different perspective, the fine is maximum fare by definition. Then you can pay the posted fare or decide whether the expected fare based on fine x probability of capture
    - robjan 9y ago
      In London, the barriers automatically charge the maximum fare if you forget to touch in or out of the system. It helps because you can jump the barrier to get into the system but you never know if ticket inspectors/security will be present at the station where you plan on alighting. The penalty for being caught jumping the barrier is significantly higher.
      - thaumasiotes 9y ago
        Caltrain (the heavily dysfunctional system serving a minor portion of the San Francisco Bay Area) is similar, but a little less convenient -- Tag in and forget to tag out, you pay the maximum fare. Forget to tag in, hope you don't get checked. There is no option to tag out without having tagged in. (Although I've seen this happen to someone, and he was just given a warning.) Get checked without having tagged in, pay $400, which is about 30 times the maximum fare.
    - MandieD 9y ago
      Fine on Nürnberg's system is 60 EUR - plus maximum fare.
  - mrbabbage 9y ago
    Berlin has a similar proof-of-payment system, where there are no physical barriers between the street and train platforms. Most people have multi use tickets; you can buy week, month, or year long tickets. I definitely prefer the proof-of-payment setup more. London (which has turnstiles) can get crazy backups with people trying to tap into / out of the system, and the Berlin system lets you engineer more convenient and therefore customer-friendly stations -- no need for mezzanines, paid vs free elevators, and the like.
    - randrews 9y ago
      That's what caused me to get stopped by the police my first day in Berlin a few years ago. I wanted to go to a board game store, so I looked one up on Google in the hotel lobby, walked to a u-bahn station, paid a couple euros for a ticket, walked downstairs and got on a train. And promptly got pulled off the train at the next stop for not paying. They were very understanding when I explained I had only been in the country about two hours (and showed my passport stamp as proof). They explained that there are machines to punch holes in the tickets... I did think it was strange that there weren't any turnstiles, but I figured, maybe you run into them on the way out or something (and I had only been in a foreign country two hours, everything was strange).
      - phreeza 9y ago
        FWIW the police does not perform ticket checks in Berlin. Traditionally it was done by employees of the public transport company and now increasingly by third party contractors.
        randrews 9y ago
        It might have been some security guard thing, I don't remember. It was a few years ago.
    - Symbiote 9y ago
      Some stations in London can be so busy, that they'd need some way to prevent people from overcrowding the platform even if there were no barriers. It's pretty common for smaller stations near major football stadia to have the barriers controlled manually after big games -- totally open for some minutes, then completely shut until the platform has cleared. (London used to have a proof-of-payment system on the articulated buses, since you were allowed to board at any door, and it still exists on the trams.)
  - MandieD 9y ago
    In Nürnberg, you can either buy paper tickets from ubiquitous automats or in the local transit app (with a pre-configured credit card or current account). I love it. Local bus drivers will sell tickets, but there are also ticket validation machines in the middle of most busses. Local trains and subways are trust basis, but I've seen more random ticket checks recently. Ticket checks are more frequent on long-distance trains, but still, no barriers. I have yet to travel on local or long-distance trains in Germany or Austria that aren't trust-based.
- inopinatus 9y ago
  Neither the ez-link or NETS FlashPay cards are credit cards. The SG trial of contactless credit cards for public transport micropayments kicked off only last month. http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/tap-mastercard-issued-credit-card-to-pay-for-bus-train-fares http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/tap-masterca...
richev 9y ago
It's being trialed in Sydney http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/the-new-opal-commuters-to-trial-swiping-of-credit-cards-to-pay-for-trips-20160415-go7o5e.html http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/the-new-opal-commuters-to-trial-sw...
tacomonstrous 9y ago
That's how it works in Chicago.

jahnu 9y ago

Such a system has been in use in Singapore for more than 15 years. Vienna does away with all of this fuss by simply doing random checks, issuing on the spot fines for fare evaders, and not having to manage the expense of turnstiles etc.

srssays 9y ago
How do you pay for tickets in Vienna then? I kind of like the barriers, if you are on the station platform, then you have definitely paid. For me, the stations that don't have barriers are more stressful, as you run the risk of forgetting to tap your card (or the tap not registering) and incurring a maximum fare.
- thaumasiotes 9y ago
  Maximum fare?? The fine for fare evasion should be well above the maximum fare.
  - pacaro 9y ago
    Or, looking at it from a different perspective, the fine is maximum fare by definition. Then you can pay the posted fare or decide whether the expected fare based on fine x probability of capture
  - robjan 9y ago
    In London, the barriers automatically charge the maximum fare if you forget to touch in or out of the system. It helps because you can jump the barrier to get into the system but you never know if ticket inspectors/security will be present at the station where you plan on alighting. The penalty for being caught jumping the barrier is significantly higher.
    - thaumasiotes 9y ago
      Caltrain (the heavily dysfunctional system serving a minor portion of the San Francisco Bay Area) is similar, but a little less convenient -- Tag in and forget to tag out, you pay the maximum fare. Forget to tag in, hope you don't get checked. There is no option to tag out without having tagged in. (Although I've seen this happen to someone, and he was just given a warning.) Get checked without having tagged in, pay $400, which is about 30 times the maximum fare.
  - MandieD 9y ago
    Fine on Nürnberg's system is 60 EUR - plus maximum fare.
- mrbabbage 9y ago
  Berlin has a similar proof-of-payment system, where there are no physical barriers between the street and train platforms. Most people have multi use tickets; you can buy week, month, or year long tickets. I definitely prefer the proof-of-payment setup more. London (which has turnstiles) can get crazy backups with people trying to tap into / out of the system, and the Berlin system lets you engineer more convenient and therefore customer-friendly stations -- no need for mezzanines, paid vs free elevators, and the like.
  - randrews 9y ago
    That's what caused me to get stopped by the police my first day in Berlin a few years ago. I wanted to go to a board game store, so I looked one up on Google in the hotel lobby, walked to a u-bahn station, paid a couple euros for a ticket, walked downstairs and got on a train. And promptly got pulled off the train at the next stop for not paying. They were very understanding when I explained I had only been in the country about two hours (and showed my passport stamp as proof). They explained that there are machines to punch holes in the tickets... I did think it was strange that there weren't any turnstiles, but I figured, maybe you run into them on the way out or something (and I had only been in a foreign country two hours, everything was strange).
    - phreeza 9y ago
      FWIW the police does not perform ticket checks in Berlin. Traditionally it was done by employees of the public transport company and now increasingly by third party contractors.
      - randrews 9y ago
        It might have been some security guard thing, I don't remember. It was a few years ago.
  - Symbiote 9y ago
    Some stations in London can be so busy, that they'd need some way to prevent people from overcrowding the platform even if there were no barriers. It's pretty common for smaller stations near major football stadia to have the barriers controlled manually after big games -- totally open for some minutes, then completely shut until the platform has cleared. (London used to have a proof-of-payment system on the articulated buses, since you were allowed to board at any door, and it still exists on the trams.)
- MandieD 9y ago
  In Nürnberg, you can either buy paper tickets from ubiquitous automats or in the local transit app (with a pre-configured credit card or current account). I love it. Local bus drivers will sell tickets, but there are also ticket validation machines in the middle of most busses. Local trains and subways are trust basis, but I've seen more random ticket checks recently. Ticket checks are more frequent on long-distance trains, but still, no barriers. I have yet to travel on local or long-distance trains in Germany or Austria that aren't trust-based.
inopinatus 9y ago
Neither the ez-link or NETS FlashPay cards are credit cards. The SG trial of contactless credit cards for public transport micropayments kicked off only last month. http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/tap-mastercard-issued-credit-card-to-pay-for-bus-train-fares http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/transport/tap-masterca...

richev 9y ago

It's being trialed in Sydney http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/the-new-opal-commuters-to-trial-swiping-of-credit-cards-to-pay-for-trips-20160415-go7o5e.html http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/the-new-opal-commuters-to-trial-sw...

tacomonstrous 9y ago

That's how it works in Chicago.