If I had an Australian dollar for every online complaint of Mobile myki, the mobile version of Public Transport Victoria’s (PTV) myki transit card in the Melbourne region, I could probably purchase a nice bit of property there. Reddit forums regularly erupt with mobile myki mind melting nonsense, invariably bashing Apple for refusing to put myki in Apple Pay because Apple ‘doesn’t support HCE’ or because they charge a ‘30% commission’. Neither of them true. myki is MIFARE which has never used HCE and Apple Wallet already supports lots of MIFARE transit cards.
The whole HCE thing is a straw man anyway: embedded secure elements (eSE) are standard on NFC smartphone chips these days. The reason why Île-de-France Mobilités (IDFM) chose HCE for Smart Navigo on Android for example, had nothing to do with Android devices lacking an eSE, it was simply that IDFM didn’t want to deal with Android manufacturer ‘gatekeepers’. Imagine the nightmare of asking every Android manufacture to issue firmware updates for older devices to support Mobile Calypso Navigo on the eSE. There was no chance in hell they would listen or do it for free, so IDFM and Calypso spent a lot of time and money creating a special HCE version of Calypso, that doesn’t support Express Transit Mode, just for Android (but not for Navigo on Samsung Pay devices which uses the native eSE and supports Express Transit Mode, all because Samsung footed the bill).
The point is the IDFM and Calyspso Android strategy is all you need to know about the chaotic mess that is Android NFC. When Smart Navigo comes to Apple Wallet in early 2024, it will run on iPhone 8/Apple Watch 3 and later in full Express Transit Mode glory because firmware, eSE and software are upgraded in a single iOS update. That’s the advantage of having a good gatekeeper who’s on the job.
As for the 30% commission straw man, Apple Pay doesn’t ‘charge a commission’ for using transit cards, they only take a negotiated commission when a credit card is used to add money to the transit card. Why PTV and Apple haven’t reached an agreement yet is a mystery, but judging from myki user complaints, the mobile myki backend system for adding money to myki cards on the go might not be up to Apple’s user experience high-bar.
But all of this nonsense doesn’t matter anymore because PTV is hitting the myki system reset button. Things are going to get much more complicated.
Open loop envy
PTV has Opal open loop envy and want EMV contactless cards to replace most of myki. This is certainly doable but there is the issue of the native MIFARE myki already on plastic and mobile. Oyster and Opal cards are MIFARE too but those systems added EMV contactless support as the foundation for everything ‘mobile’, relegating MIFARE as legacy plastic only. By doing this they offloaded most of the plastic card issuing operation to VISA/Mastercard/AMEX card issuers, who already have digital card systems in place and agreements with digital wallet operators (Apple, Google, Samsung, etc.). PTV and myki having come this far with MIFARE mobile is going to be a real juggling act. PVT, or whoever wins the service contract, have to keep all the current service balls in the air while going forward with open loop. That’s asking a lot.
There is also the problem of Express Transit Mode support. Look carefully at Apple Express Transit Mode small print and you’ll notice that mobile EMV and mobile MIFARE transit card Express Transit Mode don’t coexist on the same system. It’s one or the other, never both. I suspect a smart EMV Express Mode that chooses the right transit card for the job depends on smart modern transit gate reader hardware with the latest firmware and updated backend software.
In other words, quality Express Mode comes with a hardware infrastructure price. Getting the latest, greatest transit gates/readers installed takes time, testing, and money. Mostly money. Buckle up myki users, it’s going to be a bumpy ride to mobile transit card nirvana.
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