Rail passengers using Eurostar services to travel between London and continental Europe are set to be the first to use a new face verification system to board their train “without showing a ticket or passport”... More
Commuters in 275 Chinese cities can now add their T-Union public transportation card to their iPhone or Apple Watch and then use their smartphone or wearable to tap in and out of bus and subway services without the need to first validate the transaction using Face ID, Touch ID or a passcode... More
UK-based supermarket giant Tesco is testing a cashless-only payments service at its High Holborn store in central London... More
Iconic UK retailer M&S is expanding its mobile self-checkout service to 49 stores across London, following a successful pilot at six stores that saw a Mobile Pay Go transaction being made every three seconds during lunchtime trading... More
Apple Pay revenue and transactions have “more than doubled year-over-year with the run rate exceeding 15bn transactions a year,” Apple CEO Tim Cook has revealed... More
Apple Pay’s Express Transit mode working in parts of London Underground — MacRumors — “Apple Pay’s Express Transit mode has been functional on at least some tube and bus routes in London since last Tuesday or so, according to multiple MacRumors readers… Express Transit mode eliminates the need for users to authenticate with Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode or even wake their device when they pay for rides with Apple Pay.”
A new deal between Google and Cubic Transportation Systems is set to make it possible for public transport users in a number of major cities around the world to use Google Pay to add their transit card to their NFC mobile phone... More
Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has added a manned till and two self-checkout stations to the London store it opened in April as the UK’s first checkout-free supermarket... More
Would you microchip yourself to speed up paying with contactless? — This is Money — “11% of Londoners surveyed by PaymentSense and YouGov said they’d consider microchipping themselves to make it quicker for them to make contactless payments… A quarter say they’d be happy to use a fingerprint scanner to verify payments. 16% would be in favour of using a retinal scanner to do so.”
Uber’s move into transit ticketing has resulted in a “strong initial performance” with more than 1,200 Regional Transportation District (RTD) tickets sold through the Uber app since the service launched in Denver in May and growth “averaging 42% each week during the rollout period”... More
Uber has launched a trial of its pedal-assisted electric bikes in London as part of its strategy to become an all-round transport app... More
Belfast City Council has partnered with Israel-based Colu for the launch of Belfast Coin, a city-wide rewards and payment platform that enables participants to earn rewards for taking part in ‘good citizen’ activities such as shopping at local businesses, volunteering and recycling... More
Uber users can now view real-time public transport information from Transport for London (TfL) — such as pricing, schedules and directions — in the Uber app across services including London Underground, buses and rail... More
Supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has launched the UK’s first till-free grocery store, with the pilot being used to help develop the company’s SmartShop Scan, Pay & Go technology which allows shoppers to pay via their smartphone... More
How the London Underground brings in 53,000 new contactless users a day — PaymentsSource — “More than 21.6m journeys per week are made on London public transit using contactless payments. More than 53,000 new contactless cards or new mobile contactless payments enter the TfL each day, and one in eight contactless journeys come via Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, or other mobile wallet apps.”
Apple is expanding its support for transit systems, enabling travellers in the US to use Apple Pay as a replacement for travel tickets... More
Alipay granted Luxembourg license to serve European market — Luxembourg for Finance — “Already present with a licensed entity in London, Alipay’s new PSD2 license in Luxembourg will allow the group to leverage the EU passport to serve its customers across Europe in the future and connect Chinese users with merchants in EU countries.”
Fundraisers wearing Christmas jumpers containing a contactless card reader built into the sleeve are in place at 16 London tube stations today, to raise funds for Save the Children’s annual Christmas Jumper Day appeal... More
Mayor doubles street outreach team to help rough sleepers — Mayor of London — “The Tap London points are small, secure payment points that enable Londoners to make £3 (US$3.82) donations by card. 35 donation points will launch today with more than 90 appearing across the capital this winter. Today the Mayor launched the scheme at City Hall, where one of the building’s windows now has a donation point. The other donation points are located in busy areas around the capital.”
The percentage of payments made with a mobile phone in UK stores has jumped from 1.3% in Q3 2016 to 5.6% in Q3 2018, an analysis of 190m card transactions has shown... More
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