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What services or apps did you see abroad and wonder: why don't we have them?
When I was in India last year, I used UPI. Paying or splitting bills was as simple as scanning a QR code. Every shop had it, from street food stalls to restaurants. It just worked.
In Singapore, I saw how much could be done with the digital ID system. Filing forms, healthcare, banking—it felt like everything was one login away.
In the US, even a short hospital visit can cost thousands of dollars. It made me wonder why some basic things that clearly work elsewhere are missing here.
What have you seen abroad that felt obvious, but doesn’t exist where you live?
- Nextgrid 1y agoThe Swiss public transport ticketing system. Their app uses location services to automatically determine your fare, so you don’t need to buy tickets in advance: https://www.sbb.ch/en/travel-information/apps/sbb-mobile/easyride.html https://www.sbb.ch/en/travel-information/apps/sbb-mobile/eas.... As a bonus there are no ticket barriers so no queues and no overheads of maintaining those machines.
- leandot 1y agoThis. It also caps your fares in a day to the cost of a daily ticket, so you don't get overcharged.
- marcyb5st 1y agoMore than that (which is an amazing feature, don't get me wrong) is the fact that there is a single app for every public transportation system in the country. Compare that to Italy/France/Spain (those that I know) where, depending where you are traveling to, you have to download, sign in, and give your credit card details to N different apps in different states of disrepair/being barely maintained. Virtual credit cards (I use Revolut) that I then delete mitigate that, but still, what a mess.
- interactivecode 1y agoIn The Netherlands you just tap your card when you get in and when you get out. the fare is computed based on how many stops you went. No app needed. Supports all the virtual cards too like apple pay etc...
- gogusrl 1y agodumb question but what happens if you forget to tap out ?
- dotcoma 1y agoYou likely get charged from where you got on to the end of the route.
- ipaddr 1y agoCouldn't you leave with a friend have your friend get off at the next stop they scan both cards while you travel the entire route?
- petralithic 1y agoSure but scenarios like those are a rounding error
- Gud 1y agoFrankly the Swiss system is far superior. The Netherlands has a great train system except for the god damn turnstiles blocking the entrance to the train station. They are not needed. FWIW I live in Switzerland and work a lot in Netherlands.
- liamwire 1y agoQueensland, Australia introduced state-wide $0.50 public transit fares a year ago, and it’s been a raging success. Conveniently, this also eliminates the entire problem class of needing to calculate fares. Mind you, for those unfamiliar, QLD is a state 2.5x larger than Texas, 5x larger than all of Japan, 7x larger than Great Britain, and is bigger than all but 16 countries.
- kingkongjaffa 1y agoI guess size is a factor but also population density, does QLD have way less people per sq.m and does that make it easier to implement stuff like this?
- theothertimcook 1y agoQLD population density is something like 2000x lower than that of Tokyo… Our public transport systems are so bad. The Brisbane airport rail connection runs about half as many train services as the Perth airport, which seems about half the amount of travellers each year as Brisbane airport. It’s crazy, double the fare burden, half the patronage, and stuck in a monopoly contract until 2036. Don’t even get me started on the stupid busways, gimped light rails, the new “metro” and the endless amount poured into the motorways that they have been widening one lane at a time for 3 decades…
- aosaigh 1y agoI believe Copenhagen has this too now. I visited in the same week they were launching the system (last year?) and it worked perfectly. All you had to do was press a button on your phone as you enter and leave the station and it automatically calculates what you owe. I loved it. It also worked throughout all of the different train systems.
- p_v_doom 1y agoWhenever I use that one I forget to check out then bike half across town several times over and at 3 in the morning I get a huge ticket.
- netfortius 1y agoCertain parts of France and Germany, that I know, use something similar for regional trains and buses: FAIRTIQ
- Gud 1y agoIt’s the same. FAIRTIQ is a Swiss company
- octo888 1y agoWhat an Orwellian nightmare. These systems require real-time GPS data. Just as buying a ticket with cash is becoming increasingly hard in parts of Europe, I can see a near future where having a phone sending constant GPS updates becomes a requirement (a requirement in an strict sense, or the sense that the alternative is unreasonably cumbersome or more expensive)
- tpm 1y agoSending GPS updates from the subway?
- octo888 1y agoThere are many public transport systems that are not a subway. There are trains and buses that are wholly above ground, for example.
- tpm 1y agoYes, but underground systems are a substantial part of many mass transit networks, and even for those that aren't underground, GPS connection can't be considered reliable. Anyway if you are scared of Orwellian nightmares you shouldn't use public transport anyway as there are CCTVs everywhere.
- Nextgrid 1y agoAt least on iOS, it doesn't access the GPS directly. It asks the OS for updates to the device's location with a certain degree of precision. It's up to the OS to blend various sensor data (GPS, cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth beacons - the latter is used underground to get a good position fix without a line of sight to the sky) and send that to the app. If it was using GPS continuously it would drain your battery very quickly. So if the device can get a good idea of its location via Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, it will not even bother turning on the GPS.
- seabass-labrax 1y agoI see a vulnerability in that - spoofing location data is not hard. I really hope this doesn't lead down the path of transport operators introducing DRM-like rootkits, but unfortunately the concept of relying on data from devices owned by the user is always going to be at odds with preventing dishonest use. I'd much rather use a smartcard which, whilst tamper-proof and not modifiable by me, is separate from my own devices and personal data.
- equinox_nl 1y agoI don't understand how so many tech-minded people on this site completely disregard the value of privacy. How is this a win?
- yen223 1y agoMy expectation of privacy when in a vehicle with dozens if not hundreds of strangers with cameras is low.
- jjice 1y agoI'm a bit confused - how does this differ from something like The Tube in London where I tap on and tap off and it'll charge me based on the entry and exit points and whatever the appropriate "zone" travel I did was?
- blarg-and-co 1y ago[dead]
- blarg-and-co 1y ago[dead]
- preya2k 1y agoSwiss/Danish/Finnish Mobile Payment alternatives like TWINT and MobilePay. Also: physical lockers with PIN/Code instead of keys (in basically every country aside from Germany). It's just completely bonkers to me, that German train station lockers still use physical Keys EVERYWHERE.
- Nextgrid 1y agoThere’s probably an economy around those keys - people who lose them have to pay an (overinflated) deposit, some company is overcharging the locker owner for key replacements, etc. At every layer someone skims a bit of money, so nobody in power of changing the system is actually incentivized to do so.
- tdeck 1y agoI like the keys. The key has the locker number on it, so you don't have to remember anything. And there's no way to screw up setting the pin because of a language barrier, since there are basically no instructions needed for key lockers. FWIW the key lockers are more common in Japan as well.
- seabass-labrax 1y agoI agree with you with regard to convenience, but what about security? For the application of railway station lockers, one can assume that they will be under CCTV or other monitoring. I am no expert in locks, but presumably an electronic lock, whilst perhaps less secure overall, is harder to break without obviously looking like one is tampering with it. This is in contrast to a conventional barrel lock, which can be picked with tools that look enough like keys not to arouse suspicion from a distance.
- wojciii 1y agoI use mobilepay when paying online. Its quicker than the credit card. But the service is owned by the greedy banks so it will probably end with me abandoning it because it will get too expensive when they have enough users.
- ano-ther 1y agoLondon and Stockholm: swipe your credit card for public transport. Great for visitors (I guess for residents a subscription will be cheaper)
- chrismatheson 1y agoI don't think so (not a Londoner) It was my impression that the whole thing was just about simplification in order to provide a better service.
- ukoki 1y agoIn London contactless payment via credit/debit/Apple/Android has automatic daily and weekly caps https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/find-fares/capping https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/find-fares/capping Depending on the frequency of travel, it can be cheaper to get season tickets though
- jjice 1y agoNew York's MTA does this as well. You just need to make sure it's the same card being used. https://omny.info/fares https://omny.info/fares
- bravesoul2 1y agoSydney too, for quite a while (I am sure at least 5 yrs maybe 10)
- mjrbrennan 1y agoBrisbane now as well since the past ~1 year or so, much better than the old Go Card system. The only downside in most places with these systems though is that there is no easy way to pay for e.g. children, would be perfect if you could say 3x tickets on this card when you tap in + out.
- Ylpertnodi 1y agoApp: Fountains in Italy.
- tveyben 1y agoThirstyInRome I presume (the only iOS app returned when searching for ‘Fountains in Italy’ :-)
- tionate 1y agoOld school but all the machines for paying in cash in Japan are so optimized for speed. Train stations, onboard buses, convenience stores. Just throw in a handful of coins and it quickly picks what it needs and returns what it doesn’t. In other countries (eg australia), the ticket machines could only take a single coin at a time and would reject if you did it too fast. I believe this is one (of several) reasons why cash has continued to be dominant in Japan.
- bombcar 1y agoWe have the tech in the USA but it’s only ever used for coin counting machines (which themselves are relatively rare).
- al_borland 1y agoNot only in coin counting machines. I've seen people on YouTube using the U-Scan at Walmart like a CoinStar. Apparently if you lift where the coin slot is you can dump in coins and it will process it all. If the total is more than your bill, it gives you the money back. While I'm not sure about the refund of an overpayment, there are also the toll booths that have buckets to throw change into. Though most tolls seem to be electronic these days.
- yen223 1y agoSydney lets you use your credit card to tap on to trains and buses, which is very nice
- bombcar 1y agoIf I can go the other way - one thing the USA has that Europe, at least, doesn’t - the ADA. US businesses are basically all wheelchair accessible - easily, too. Most sidewalks have curb cuts at street crossings. Ramps are commonplace. This is NOT the cause in Europe, and not only in the historic old buildings. Even using a stroller is noticeably different; I can’t imagine being in a wheelchair in some cities.
- equinox_nl 1y agoThis depends on where in Europe. From personal experience of a relative (going back 20+ years), the Netherlands is very accessible by wheelchair.
- disgruntledphd2 1y agoBasically every building in Ireland is wheelchair accessible in some form. Has been for well over twenty years at this point. It had a number of unexpected consequences, like making it much harder/illegal to rent flats over shops in much of the city centres.
- bombcar 1y agoThe apartment (flats) issue is one that has some exceptions, in the USA, as I've seen single family homes and small duplexes, along with larger complexes that have inaccessible units - I think over a certain size, at least some percentage have to be accessible (just as a bathroom has to have at least one accessible stall, but is not required to have more).
- quickthrowman 1y agoResidences and rental units are not required to be ADA compliant. A multi-tenant residential building must be ADA compliant in the common and public areas of the building. For residential rental units, landlords must make ‘reasonable accommodations, unless they would impose undue financial or administrative burden,’ which means if you get paralyzed while renting an apartment that isn’t ADA compliant you’re probably fucked unless you can afford to add a ramp yourself, and pay to have it removed when you leave. Adding a wheelchair ramp would be an undue financial burden, so a landlord isn’t required to add one. Replacing the door to a unit with a 36” wide door would likely not be considered an undue financial burden, so if you live in a building with ADA compliant public spaces and elevators, you’re probably OK since the landlord will likely install a larger door. Government owned housing is required to be ADA compliant.
- jamesdhutton 1y agoIn the USA, the postal service picks up outgoing mail from your mailbox. I wish they would do that in the UK.
- nevon 1y agoThat's very interesting. How do they know what's outgoing? Do they have to check the address of each letter, or is there like a separate compartment for outgoing mail?
- tyleo 1y agoMost mailboxes have a little plastic flag on a hinge you flip up to mark that you have outgoing mail. The process is is generally: 1. Remove all mail from the mailbox 2. Place outgoing mail in the mailbox 3. Raise the outgoing mail flag 4. Carrier will empty the box and file outgoing mail during the next delivery before putting new mail in the box Edit: here is a good example of a mailbox with that red flag https://www.amazon.com/Step2-541200-MailMaster-Mailbox-Black/dp/B00004W42K https://www.amazon.com/Step2-541200-MailMaster-Mailbox-Black...
- qwertfisch 1y agoWow, I always had the impression the red flag is set by the mail carrier to indicate for the house owner (particularly in rural areas) that new mail is inside the box. (Hence it would save the owner a trip for checking.) But this way around it makes a lot more sense.
- lesuorac 1y agoTbh, as long as you make the mail obviously not placed by them they'll take it. (as in don't need to use a flag). Like they always shove (or drop) it into the mailbox so when there's letters that are obstructing the box from closing properly they know they didn't place them there so it's outgoing and they grab it.
- al_borland 1y ago
- tietjens 1y agoInstant free bank transfers by IBAN. In comparison with how tightly-guarded personal email addresses are protected (GDPR, etc.), it's shocking how common it is to freely give out your IBAN.
- equinox_nl 1y agoNot sure if I understand correctly, but are you saying that IBAN leaks personal information?
- rkomorn 1y agoIt helps that, to be able to use an IBAN for withdrawals, you basically have to "sign" a recurring transfer agreement. Otherwise it's pretty much always a "push" transaction from buyer to seller. Better than being able to commit ACH fraud merely by virtue of having the bank's routing and account number. Side note: shout out to both MB Way and Multibanco payments in Portugal that have made it so I haven't have to give payment information to an online vendor in years.
- Nextgrid 1y agoBut there is no cryptography or any kind of identity verification involved in "signing" such an agreement. If I know your IBAN I can subscribe to such an agreement on your behalf. I'm not sure about Europe, but at least in the UK, what makes such a system secure is that the account holder can reverse any "pull" transaction for over a month, with the merchant being on the hook. So it reduces the incentive to exploit it (or at least shifts the risk off the account holder), to a level where it's pretty much never done.
- rkomorn 1y agoI don't have any experience with making fraudulent transactions, but I at least had to prove who I was when signing up for recurring transactions (so the fraud would've been effectively in my name), and I also see all my authorizations in my bank app (and I can remove them at any time). In the US, I'd be more worried about a one-time fraudulent ACH withdrawal than a recurring payment situation. I don't see a similar risk here. It seems like there are more hoops to go through to make a pull transaction?
- bacr 1y agoCar sharing in Germany such as Bolt and Miles. The pickup and drop-off anywhere model is so much more convenient than the point-to-point or round trip model that zip car uses. They are cost competitive with public transit or private car ownership.
- qwertfisch 1y agoI was in Paris some years ago, and it surprised me that a jug of water for drinking was free on every table. Of course if you wanted any other beverage you’d pay for it, but just quenching your thirst was free. In Germany water is not free, but instead another income for restaurants. Also it needs a law (only since 2001) that the cheapest beverage must be non-alcoholic. (Yet water could be more expensive than beer, as long as e.g. apple juice costs equal or less.)
- saaspirant 1y agoIn India water is free in almost all restaurants. Even if you don't order anything, you can just drink it and leave. Some fancy restaurants don't allow it though.
- csomar 1y agoI thought the author from the US where water is usually served for free, pretty much in all restaurants?
- petralithic 1y agoThat's pretty funny that this is novel for you, as it's very common in many countries.
- eithed 1y agoBLIK from Poland - https://www.blik.com/en/how-to-use-blik https://www.blik.com/en/how-to-use-blik It's a code you generate in your bank app to pay for anything - no need to fill in card details etc, you just provide this one time code.
- tintumon 1y agoBankID (or Freja ID) in Sweden which makes login to almost everything a breeze. - Sweden’s national digital ID, run by banks - Used for login, payments, contracts, gov services - Legally binding like a handwritten signature
- iteria 1y agoHow does someone login via this system? I'm asking because it has the force of law. In that sense, I can't imagine that passwords alone would be enough.
- dcminter 1y agoTypically the website displays a QR code which you scan with the BankID app - the app prompts you to authenticate and you use a fingerprint or a 6 digit pin code to confirm. The app has a certificate set up so if some rando has the app and shoulder surfed your pin they would not be able to login. Establishing the app certificate initially on your device requires interaction with your bank account - via an existing BankID setup or a bank issued OTC dongle. It works extremely well and allows for a lot of "joined-up" thinking. For example I can log in to various online pharmacies and see and refresh the prescription from my doctor (and from the vet for my cat). The ubiquitous Swish cash transfer app is authenticated by BankID. Downsides: It can be a nuisance for those moving here; before you get your state ID ("personal number") you can't get BankID and it's borderline impossible to get a bank account! The app has a single owner and uses pinned certs so it's virtually impossible to do BankID on anything except an Android or iOS device. No Pine Phone for you unless you want to carry a second device for BankID.
- scarface_74 1y agoCaja - universal healthcare in Costa Rica and even relatively cheap private insurance.
- m463 1y agoShinkansen and japanese toilets
- TheCapeGreek 1y agoCityMapper for more cities. Found it super helpful for getting around London. Would be great for somewhere like Athens. Google Maps decently supports this as well, bit CityMapper UX is better for the task.
- cddotdotslash 1y agoIn China, nearly everything works via the same app (WeChat) and via QR code. Every grocery store, coffee shop, train station, or point of sale has the same scanner, where you can flash your QR code. I don't think I saw a single physical currency exchanged in the entire 6 weeks I was there. I keep hearing that X wants to be the "everything" app. WeChat is _already_ the everything app. It's DoorDash, Venmo, Facebook, Instagram, and about 500 other apps in one. I will say that I disliked the pattern of every restaurant using a WeChat "mini app" where it basically loads an entirely new app within WeChat just to see the menu or order. It felt much clunkier than just using a web page.
- petralithic 1y agoYou're misunderstanding, Musk wants X to be the everything app in the US. He knows about WeChat, that is in fact where part of the inspiration came from, and more generally he talked about it during the PayPal days.
- aprilnya 1y agodefinitely loved renting e-scooters when I was in Germany, really convenient with how many bike paths there are
- seabass-labrax 1y agoThe problem with these scooters is that people leave them in awkward places, such as where they block the pavement or a wheelchair ramp. Their wheels lock when not in use and they're really heavy too, which means that some people can't move them out of the way. With bike rental systems the frustration is slightly less common as you often need to put them up against a bicycle rack in order to return them. Ultimately this is just a societal issue, but unfortunately there's neither the public co-operation nor enforcement of sensible rules about where to park them in many large cities such as Berlin.
- jimkleiber 1y agom-pesa in Kenya, where mobile payments are as simple as typing in a phone number and sending. It's like Venmo if every person and business had it and used it.