Apple Pay Now Supports Express Transit in London
Apple has started rolling out support for Express Transit in London this week. The company’s Express Transit feature allows users to pay for journeys on Transport for London (TfL) without needing to use Face ID or Touch ID.
The seamless experience allows users to simply tap their iPhone or Apple Watch on the yellow card reader at tube stations, and pay for their journey without needing to verify using Face ID or Touch ID.
The feature is rolling out this week, and it will work for all TfL services, including Underground, Overground, DLR, Buses, Trams, River, and TFL Rail. You can also select a preferred card for Express Transit from your device settings.
And for users with an iPhone Xr or later, they will be able to use the Express Transit feature even when their battery runs out. In fact, Apple says the Power Reserve feature on modern iPhones can allow users to pay for their journeys using their phone up to five hours after their phone runs out of battery and goes into the Power Reserve mode.
The new Express Transit feature should be automatically available if you are in London — in fact, I even got a notification from Apple notifying me about its availability earlier this week, so keep an eye out for a similar notification, or just try it out by tapping your phone on the card reader like you would with a regular Oyster card.