Apple have launched a new payment system that will help commuters to pass through the tube barriers in a much speedier fashion.
We’ve all either been the person to hold everyone up at the tube barriers because FaCe Is NoT ReCogNisEd 🤨, or we’ve been stuck behind that person. In either scenario, we end up embarrassed or irritated, or both.
Apple have recognised this problem and have now introduced an Express Transit feature, starting today (December 2), allowing Apple Pay users to tap onto the tube without even unlocking their phone – let alone having to distort your face into that extra-you-like expression in attempt to be identified.
Apple Pay is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, TouchID and FaceID are super secure; but on the other, this fancy use of biometric data to authenticate the payment means it takes a little longer that your ordinary contactless card payment. And, for the impatient Londoner, these milliseconds make all the difference.
Working together with TfL, Apple have made it really easy to designate a specific card to be your ‘travel payment card’ so that, every time you catch a bus, tram or train, you can just tap your phone to the reader without having to authenticate the payment.
It’s simple to set up. Go to Settings on your iPhone, select Wallet & Apple Pay, and scroll to find ‘Express Travel Card’ under a new section called Travel Cards. Click on this and choose which card you’d like as your Apple travel card, and you’ll immediately be able to use it to travel around the TfL network.
Note that this will only work for iPhone SE, 6S and above, as well as Apple Watches. Added bonus if you own an iPhone XS or XR! You’ll be able to use the Express Transit feature for up to five hours even after your phone has run out of battery. What a… touch.
See also: London has the most expensive public transport in the world.