The history of subway systems is one long string of attempts to improve the way riders pay fares. First there were tickets, then tokens. Magnetic swipe cards sped things up in their day, and tap-in payment cards came along to make things faster still. And now, in Moscow, all you need to open the gate is a little piece of jewelry.
No, the Russian capital isn’t installing pawnshops in lieu of ticket booths. It’s actually experimenting with wearable alternatives to payment cards. Since the end of October, help desks at two key metro stations have sold rubber bracelets embedded with microchips as part of a pilot project, bracelets that can be topped up with funds, and touched in and out with just like a standard metro payment card. For dressier people who fear a rubber band might clash with their outfit, Moscow has an alternative: 500 black ceramic rings, in large and small sizes, that will let you through a ticket barrier with a mere tap of the knuckle. Moscow’s Twitter feed shared some images of the rings early last month.
The idea is so ingenious it seems impossible that no one has thought of it before. There is, after all, no reason why a microchip for payment information has to be embedded in a card.
In truth, this has been thought of before: Startup projects suggesting just this type of innovation have been knocking around for at least two years. In fact, the concept is so simple that ordinary passengers have jumped ahead of transit authorities and designers to make their own makeshift versions. In the early days of London’s Oyster Card, one popular hack was to cut out the microchip and stick it to a watch. Last year, a London design student took this further by installing the chip into false fingernails.
Like Moscow’s new rings and bracelets, these watch and body hacks had the great advantage of removing the need to take a payment card in and out of a wallet—something that, depending on the thickness of the wallet in question, can still be necessary on some public transit systems. As such, they’re a great leap forward.
Among geeky circle, the story is circulating of a gentleman dressed as a wizard in London taking buses and Underground using his magic wand.
Unless that person is an actual wizard, he took the liberty of putting his Oyster sim himself at the end of his wand.
Is that forbidden by TfL?
@Kalum
If I remember rightly, TfL have declared that it is against the rules to remove a chip from an Oyster card and install it in anything else. Possibly in response to the gentleman you mention.
Surely the move towards using bank debit/credit cards makes the idea of separate payment mechanisms for public transport a bit obsolete?
This Moscow initiative is a bit behind the times. Hong Kong’s Octopus Card has had umpteen series of “ornaments” that incorporate a card chip. OK these are not wearable tech in quite the same way but HK has long had special card editions and other versions to maintain interest / earn extra money.
http://www.octopus.com.hk/en/consumer/octopus-cards/products/sold-octopus/index.html
@quinlet
Many large cities in the US and Canada still use magnetic stripe fare cards, some are moving to smart cards, and only a few are actively planning for credit / debit card fare payment. Even then it’s still a few years away. As cited in some LR comments a week or two ago, chip credit / debit cards are not ubiquitous in the US.
Barclays have had a business providing contactless payment in unusual form factors for some years now – https://www.bpay.co.uk/
They do key fobs, wristbands and adhesive stickers (both with their own brand and Topshop), and more recently car key fobs (with certain Citroen DS vehicles), bracelets (with Tovi Sorga).
I don’t think it’s been the massive success that they hoped it would be, although the wristbands in particular have been very well received by people with disabilities.