Roger Fingas
In a special promotion, MasterCard is briefly letting people ride the Transport for London network for free on Mondays so long as they use Apple Pay.
The promotion is running from Nov. 23 through Dec. 14, according to MasterCard. The only condition is that users have to touch in and touch out using their iPhone 6/6s or Apple Watch.
It's not clear whether the promotion is being done independently or at the behest of Apple, especially as both companies benefit from Apple Pay. Each makes money off transactions, with MasterCard also gaining improved security, and Apple keeping people locked into its platforms.
Transport for London operates trains and buses across the city, including the famous London Underground. It was one of the first parties on board with Apple Pay when the service arrived in the U.K. in July.
Marko Zivkovic
Christine McKee
Malcolm Owen
Amber Neely
Andrew O'Hara
30 Comments
I liked the Discover Card 10% cash back Apple Pay better :-). the battle to be the default Apple Pay card has begun.
Yes, I'm curious if Apple is subsidizing this promotion. Separately, an article below mentions that Samsung is offering customers a $50 gift card to Best Buy if they sign up for Samsung Pay. Potentially Apple and its competitors in this new Payments space are making investments to drive adoption... which makes perfect sense in an emerging market. http://www.businessinsider.com/samsung-will-pay-you-to-use-samsung-pay-2015-11
How does one briefly allow people to ride for free? Do you let them on for free and then charge them whilst they're on the train?
I feel that they are going about this all wrong. Since there are clear security benefits to using Apple Pay which will result in less financial loss for financial institutions, but only after secure mobile payment system[U][B]s[/B][/U] reach a certain threshold, they need to offer discounts for retailers that use Apple Pay and similar, individual bank-controlled mobile payment systems. Get the retailers paying for terminals with NFC, get the retailers to make sure the firmware is up-to-date so that Apple Pay works, get the retailers to make sure their staff knows all about it, and get the retailers to use their own money to advertise for Apple Pay support and have their employees recommend it at the checkout and you have a setup where the retailer wins, the customer wins, and the financial institution wins. The only ones that don't win are the thieves… but not until we reach that threshold of support and usage.
It probably charges the user £0.00. Then TfL (Transport for London) and Mastercard do a reconcilliation the next day.
If I was travelling in London on these Mondays, I'd use it instead of my Oyster Card.