Transit cards on mobile devices first appeared in 2006 with the launch of Mobile Suica, the world’s very first comprehensive transit card on mobile service. With the arrival of digital wallet platforms from Apple, Google and Samsung in 2015, mobile transit cards have gradually become widely available outside of Japan. The first mobile transit card on Apple Pay was Suica in 2016.
The chart below lists transit cards hosted on embedded secure element (eSE) mobile digital wallets by service launch year. Entries are limited to native transit cards defined as reloadable stored fare, locally processed ‘truth on the card’ virtual transit smart cards, not cloud processed QR or EMV transit fare solutions, listed by official service year, either a formal announcement by wallet platform hardware vendors (Apple, Google, Samsung, etc.) or transit agencies. Open Loop service and open beta test launches are not listed. The chart is best viewed in landscape mode.
| Year | Card | Area | Operator | Digital Wallet | NFC | Protocol |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | ||||||
| Mobile Suica | Japan | JR East | Osaifu Keitai Symbian | F | Mobile FeliCa | |
| 2011 | ||||||
| Mobile Suica | Japan | JR East | Osaifu Keitai Android | F | Mobile FeliCa | |
| 2015 | ||||||
| Tmoney | Korea | Tmoney Co. Ltd | Samsung Pay | A | KS X 6923 | |
| cashbee | Korea | Hanaro Card Co. | Samsung Pay | A | KS X 6923 | |
| 2016 | ||||||
| Apple Pay Suica | Japan | JR East | Apple Pay | F | Mobile FeliCa | |
| China T-Union | China | Various | Huawei Pay Samsung Pay | A | PBOC 2.0 | |
| 2017 | ||||||
| Beijing Shanghai Transit | China | BMAC SPTCC | Apple Pay | A | PBOC 2.0 | |
| 2018 | ||||||
| iPass | Taiwan | iPass Co. | FitBit Pay Garmin Pay | A | MIFARE | |
| EasyCard | Taiwan | EasyCard Co. | Garmin Pay | A | MIFARE | |
| HOP | Portland | TriMet | Google Pay | A | MIFARE 2GO | |
| Smart Octopus | Hong Kong | OCL | Samsung Pay | F | Mobile FeliCa | |
| 2019 | ||||||
| HOP | Portland | TriMet | Apple Pay | A | MIFARE 2GO | |
| Mobile myki | Victoria | Public Transport Victoria/NTT Data | Google Pay | A | MIFARE 2GO | |
| Navigo | Paris | Île-de-France Mobilités | Samsung Pay | B | Calypso | |
| 2020 | ||||||
| Shenzhen | Greater Bay Region | Shenzhen Tong Limited | Apple Pay | A | PBOC 3.0* | |
| Guangzhou | Greater Bay Region | Guangzhou Yang Cheng Tong Limited | Apple Pay | A | PBOC 3.0* | |
| Foshan | Greater Bay Region | Apple Pay | A | PBOC 3.0* | ||
| SmarTrip | Washington DC | WMATA/Cubic | Apple Pay | A | MIFARE 2GO | |
| EasyCard | Taiwan | EasyCard Co. | Samsung Pay | A | MIFARE | |
| Mobile PASMO | Tokyo | PASMO | Osaifu Keitai | F | Mobile FeliCa | |
| Mobile Suica | Tokyo | JR East | Garmin Pay | F | Mobile FeliCa | |
| Smart Octopus | Hong Kong | OCL | Apple Pay | F | Mobile FeliCa | |
| TAP | LA | METRO/Cubic | Apple Pay | A | MIFARE | |
| Mobile PASMO | Tokyo | PASMO | Apple Pay Osaifu Keitai | F | Mobile FeliCa | |
| 2021 | ||||||
| February | Clipper | Bay Area | MTA/Cubic | Apple Pay | A | MIFARE 2GO |
| 2022 | ||||||
| 2023 | ||||||
| March | Mobile ICOCA | Osaka | JR West | Osaifu Keitai | F | Mobile FeliCa |
Mobile transit card protocol overview
The current lineup of transit card payment mobile protocols are
- Mobile FeliCa (Suica, PASMO, ICOCA)
- MIFARE (HOP, SmarTrip, TAP, Clipper, Myki)
- PBOC 2.0/3.0 (China T-Union)
- Calypso (Smart Navigo)
As explained in detail below, FeliCa and Calypso are the fastest protocols, MIFARE is in the middle and PBOC 2.0, a Chinese variant of EMV with card architecture customization for stored fare, is the slowest of the protocols, as EMV was originally designed for leisurely supermarket POS checkout not rush hour transit gates. Transit has special needs for fast fare processing at the gate to keep people moving and operations safe. In theory all protocols can process transactions at more or less the same speed, but the reality of NFC+protocol OS integration+antenna and gate design is that there are big differences. The truth is in the tap. Here is a rundown of the technologies and real life tap times.
While transit gates and NFC processors are found worldwide, what makes the Japanese gates different from the rest of the world is they don’t use global standard ISO 14443 (never mind Type A which uses Miller bit coding, the least efficient bit coding method) protocol which is common in many transit and bank cards issued worldwide.
The tap time with ISO 14443 Type A (née Philips) and B (née Motorola) varies greatly: from 200 to 500 milliseconds (ms) with 200 ms only achievable with Type B/Calypso. But it never reaches the short as 100 ms which is only achieved with Felica developed by Sony, also designated NFC-F and NFC Tag Type 3 by the NFC Forum and compatible with ISO 18092 which is commonly found in smartphones and NFC wearables since 2013. In this video passengers maintain their walking pace but never overshoot and trigger a gate closure nor slow down not even a bit.
It may be a minor difference but due to the high volume of passengers per gate (comparison example of large crowds at gates in Malaysia and Japan) and to reduce gate maintenance requirements, taps times really matter. Companies such as JR East have specified tap time of 200 ms but Suica is actually faster and this allows real life speed tolerances: some passengers tap faster than others due to walking pace, the higher speed tolerances are only possible with the 100 ms tap time of FeliCa.
Open Loop NFC ticketing (in its current form, EMVCo Contactless specifications are adopted in contactless bank cards issued worldwide including China UnionPay QuickPass which is PBOC derived from the EMVCo Contactless spec and uses the ISO 14443 Type A at 106 kbps only for 500 ms tap time, which is adopted in cities worldwide such as London, New York, Moscow and Rio de Janeiro is never supposed but as seen here, transit cards in Japan such as Suica, PASMO and ICOCA are supported for ultra hight speed and precise account verification and fare processing. Transit cards use offline Stored Fare (SF) which includes the amount of funds stored in the card’s IC smart chip data storage, NOT backend on a server like a bank card, and stored commuter passes.
YouTube comment explaining the speed differences between NFC types (blocked outside of Canada), edited for clarity
Japan and China transit cards are de facto national standards. Japan has Suica, ICOCA, PASMO, etc., which share the same basic architecture that gradually evolved into the mutual compatible Transit IC interoperability standard in 2013. PBOC 2.0 China T-Union is a Chinese Ministry of Transport initiative for interoperable transit cards on plastic and mobile, managed by Beijing China Communications Gold Card Technology that started in 2015, cards are prepaid Union One issue. With the rollout, China T-Union replaced existing MIFARE and FeliCa based mainland China transit cards.
The interesting thing about the latter is that many Greater Bay Area transit cards were FeliCa based cards and users really noticed the difference when China weeded out and replace them with the slower PBOC 2.0 powered China T-Union cards:
Compared to other contactless smartcards in use, the data transmission of <PBOC 2.0 China T-Union> Yang Cheng Tong is criticized by commuters that it takes 1~2 seconds between the card and reader to complete the transaction, though the operator claims that the data communication only takes 0.5 seconds in its official site.
Wikipedia Yang Cheng Tong
The slower China T-Union speed is one factor driving the popularity of QR codes for transit in China: there isn’t any speed difference between the two so most people choose AliPay and WeChat Pay for the convenience of reward points, campaigns and more services.
Mobile transit cards vs Open Loop
Mobile FeliCa developed by Sony and NTT Docomo has been around the longest and works across multiple mobile hardware platforms from Symbian handsets, to Android, to iOS/watchOS and now Garmin Pay Suica. MIFARE has a shorter history on mobile. PBOC 2.0/3.0 is basically new. The key period is 2015~2016 which saw transit card debuts on Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Huawei Pay.
The biggest advantages of transit cards in digital wallets is the freedom of anywhere anytime recharge with credit/debit cards; transit users are no longer chained to station kiosks to recharge plastic smartcards with cash or renew a pass. The more payment options supported on the recharge backend, the more convenient the card is.
These are great customer features, so why is it taking so long to get transit cards on mobile in America and Europe when there are some 257 China T-Union transit card compatible transit authorities already on mobile? The answer: Open Loop.
Blame the slow mobile transit card rollout on open loop
Many transit card fare systems outside of Asia are managed by Cubic Transportation Systems, including Oyster, Opal, Clipper, OMNY, Ventra and SmarTrip to name a few. Cubic and operators like Transport for London, Transport for NSW and New York MTA have focused primarily on Open Loop EMV card support as their mobile solution instead of hosting native virtual transit cards.
Publicly run transit system resources are limited so using bank cards for open loop transit is seen as a way to reduce costs for both fare collection and plastic card issue. The downside is that open loop support adds a layer of complexity and cost that stymies native digital transit card support. As with all transit agencies that are run by, or receive movement funds, resources are limited, choices have to be made as to which mobile transit solutions receive funding. The end result is that precious system development funds are spent on EMV open loop development with native transit card mobile support a secondary priority, if at all.
However open loop cannot cover all fare options as bank cards were not designed for transit. This is why Oyster, Opal and Ventra have had to keep good old stored value plastic MIFARE cards around for fares that don’t fit in the ‘one size fits all’ open loop box. To address this shortcoming Cubic has created a new mobile transit solution: closed loop EMV bank cards for digital wallets.
Cubic’s very first mobile transit card effort, the long delayed Apple Pay Ventra, is the world’s first EMV closed loop transit card. It’s basically a Mastercard debit card with an account candy wrapped as a Ventra digital card. This same configuration is being tested for digital Opal. As closed loop EMV transit cards are bank card account based schemes, they still come with all the EMV on transit shortcomings, bank managed accounts, slow transaction speed, poor user feedback at the transit gate, etc. Because of the EMV open loop/closed loop priority, native transit cards on mobile will continue to arrive in a slow trickle.
China T-Union: centralized straightjacket for mobile
The large deployment of PBOC 2.0/3.0 China T-Union cards on mobile has been cited as proof that it’s ‘better’ at mobile than FeliCa and MIFARE, but the reality has nothing to do with protocols or smartphone hardware. It is all about the Ministry of Transport China T-Union card nationwide standard managed by a single entity: Beijing China Communications Gold Card Technology (BCCGCT) using prepaid Union One issue for plastic and digital issue:
- All China T-Union cards have a single recharge backend provided by UnionPay via BCCGCT. It’s the reason why China T-Union only support UnionPay recharge and sport a similar logo with local transit agency branding. It’s all one package.
- China T-Union digital cards on mobile have to be created on the device, plastic card transfers are not supported. Local transit agency transit card apps are intentionally crippled and do not support any NFC transfer features, Apple Support pages do not mention plastic card transfer.
Eliminating plastic card transfers reduces management overhead and the UnionPay recharge backend shared by all transit cards issued by the same company makes it simple as BCCGCT runs everything. The various local transit operators simply plug into it. They don’t have to host anything or build a cloud backend from scratch, and there’s nothing to negotiate because UnionPay runs the payment network. China T-Union illustrates the power a national transit card run by a single government run enterprise monopoly that’s a streamlined straitjacket.
Every country and region has their own priorities for local transit ticketing services, as it should be. My position is a simple one: one size does not and should not fit everyone, ticketing can also be payments platform. A transit payment platform business model can be adapted to local regions and business conditions for long term sustainable transit in the mobile payments age.
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