7 ms·

It’s still nice for people who may not have (local) bank accounts, namely poor people and tourists. IIRC you can’t have a WeChat pay account without a Chinese

It’s still nice for people who may not have (local) bank accounts, namely poor people and tourists. IIRC you can’t have a WeChat pay account without a Chinese bank account.

tialaramex 5y ago
Most tourists should find their contactless card or equivalent (e.g an iPhone) just works. There may be a brief extra pause, especially the very first time you touch a gate, as the system figures out that yes this is a payment card, and yes it can afford to pay for a journey on the network. So, probably don't choose peak time at a crowded station to find out if your card or phone works. I would much prefer if this was true for most public transit networks in the world, including the rest of the UK.
- MillenialMan 5y ago
  Many banks charge a hefty premium for overseas purchases, and they tend to charge per purchase.
  - Nextgrid 5y ago
    TfL settles every 24 hours, so you'll only have a single purchase per 24H regardless of how many journeys you've taken. I'd also argue that in this case the fault is on the cardholder for being with a shit bank when better options exist in the vast majority of countries.
    - MillenialMan 5y ago
      I think that's an absurd requirement to levy on tourists and oyster cards are a perfectly reasonable solution.
    - bobthepanda 5y ago
      That would be most American banks.
- afarrell 5y ago
  The US does not have contactless credit cards. Britain has a financial and national security interest in American tourists — who will need oyster cards.
  - ryanlol 5y ago
    Wait, what? All my US cards except for the metal amexes have been contactless for years. All of them also support apple pay.
    - pfranz 5y ago
      I have 2 Mastercards and 1 Visa. Only one of the Mastercards support contactless. The one without foreign transaction fees doesn't. It's also been vary hard to find a chip+pin card (without an annual fee) instead of a chip+signature even though it's been around for what, 20 years now?
      - tialaramex 5y ago
        In general even if the card isn't contactless, a decent phone, which can perform contactless transactions, can be hooked to the same account anyway. In fact I deliberately own a non-contactless credit card (from my good bank, who were happy to send me the non-contactless version when requested even though their default is contactless) and then enrolled that card in my phone so the phone can make contactless purchases. Thus, my credit card can't be hijacked to do remote purchases because purchases with the card require a physical connection, and yet I can make fairly large card purchases contactlessly, because my phone vouches for them after I unlock it.
        pfranz 5y ago
        That is true, but even with a US card in the US, there are vague scenarios where ApplePay requires a signature[1]. So it's problematic using it for unmanned terminals when traveling. I've had trouble traveling internationally and wouldn't trust it taking mass transit without extra time or a backup option. [1] https://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/when-apple-pay-requires-a-signature-and-when-it-doesnt https://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/when-apple-pay-requi...
- pfranz 5y ago
  I'm from the US and haven't had great luck in Europe. One card ditched "travel alerts" in 2016, the other I swore added one when it saw I purchased plane tickets, but it didn't. Both got flagged causing problems. One card I specifically got because it had no foreign transaction fees and was recommended for traveling. Only one of my cards is contactless and I about every 4th or 5th transaction I get flagged and they need to enter info from my ID to complete the transaction. For a lot of services that require preauthorization just don't work and don't give clear error messages. Even if my card worked the first time I wouldn't trust it would work the 3rd or 4th. Until I bought a monthly pass every trip took time and some luck. I wish I knew prepaid cards were an option.

It’s still nice for people who may not have (local) bank accounts, namely poor people and tourists. IIRC you can’t have a WeChat pay account without a Chinese bank account.

tialaramex 5y ago

Most tourists should find their contactless card or equivalent (e.g an iPhone) just works. There may be a brief extra pause, especially the very first time you touch a gate, as the system figures out that yes this is a payment card, and yes it can afford to pay for a journey on the network. So, probably don't choose peak time at a crowded station to find out if your card or phone works. I would much prefer if this was true for most public transit networks in the world, including the rest of the UK.

MillenialMan 5y ago
Many banks charge a hefty premium for overseas purchases, and they tend to charge per purchase.
- Nextgrid 5y ago
  TfL settles every 24 hours, so you'll only have a single purchase per 24H regardless of how many journeys you've taken. I'd also argue that in this case the fault is on the cardholder for being with a shit bank when better options exist in the vast majority of countries.
  - MillenialMan 5y ago
    I think that's an absurd requirement to levy on tourists and oyster cards are a perfectly reasonable solution.
  - bobthepanda 5y ago
    That would be most American banks.
afarrell 5y ago
The US does not have contactless credit cards. Britain has a financial and national security interest in American tourists — who will need oyster cards.
- ryanlol 5y ago
  Wait, what? All my US cards except for the metal amexes have been contactless for years. All of them also support apple pay.
  - pfranz 5y ago
    I have 2 Mastercards and 1 Visa. Only one of the Mastercards support contactless. The one without foreign transaction fees doesn't. It's also been vary hard to find a chip+pin card (without an annual fee) instead of a chip+signature even though it's been around for what, 20 years now?
    - tialaramex 5y ago
      In general even if the card isn't contactless, a decent phone, which can perform contactless transactions, can be hooked to the same account anyway. In fact I deliberately own a non-contactless credit card (from my good bank, who were happy to send me the non-contactless version when requested even though their default is contactless) and then enrolled that card in my phone so the phone can make contactless purchases. Thus, my credit card can't be hijacked to do remote purchases because purchases with the card require a physical connection, and yet I can make fairly large card purchases contactlessly, because my phone vouches for them after I unlock it.
      - pfranz 5y ago
        That is true, but even with a US card in the US, there are vague scenarios where ApplePay requires a signature[1]. So it's problematic using it for unmanned terminals when traveling. I've had trouble traveling internationally and wouldn't trust it taking mass transit without extra time or a backup option. [1] https://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/when-apple-pay-requires-a-signature-and-when-it-doesnt https://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/when-apple-pay-requi...
pfranz 5y ago
I'm from the US and haven't had great luck in Europe. One card ditched "travel alerts" in 2016, the other I swore added one when it saw I purchased plane tickets, but it didn't. Both got flagged causing problems. One card I specifically got because it had no foreign transaction fees and was recommended for traveling. Only one of my cards is contactless and I about every 4th or 5th transaction I get flagged and they need to enter info from my ID to complete the transaction. For a lot of services that require preauthorization just don't work and don't give clear error messages. Even if my card worked the first time I wouldn't trust it would work the 3rd or 4th. Until I bought a monthly pass every trip took time and some luck. I wish I knew prepaid cards were an option.