Skip to main content

Contactless payments will roll out to more public transportation systems in 2020

Earlier this year, New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority, or MTA, launched a new fare payment system called OMNY, which essentially allows customers to use services like Google Pay and Apple Pay at turnstiles to pay for rides. It seems like that program has been a success, despite only being available at a few stations — and Cubic, the company behind OMNY’s tech, is now expanding it across the country.

The first new city to get the tech will be San Francisco, after which it’ll make its way to Boston, and get a wider launch in New York City. Additional cities will be added too, but they have yet to be announced. In San Francisco, Cubic says that riders will be able to use Google Pay from the Cubic traveler app too — which is presumably where they’ll be able to choose the fares that they want to pay for.

Recommended Videos

According to Cubic, the idea behind the tech is to make using public transportation easier and more accessible. Hopefully, that will reduce congestion, even if only a little, and it’s much better for the environment. Cubic has yet to announce specific dates for the rollout of the new tech in San Francisco and other cities, though we’ll likely get more information about the rollout in the near future.

It’s also unclear exactly how wide-spread the rollout will be next year. When the service launched in New York City in May, it was limited to Staten Island buses and the 4, 5, and 6 subway lines between the Grand Central-42nd Street and Atlantic Ave-Barclays Center station stops. Considering how massive New York City’s metro system is, that’s pretty limited. At the time, however, the MTA said that the tech would roll out to the entire subway system and bus routes by the end of 2020.

Using the actual tech is pretty easy — and makes it much easier to quickly get onto a bus or subway. Near turnstiles or on the bus, you’ll see a small area with an NFC symbol. There, you can quickly tap your device or contactless card to pay for a ride. At launch you could only pay per ride, but the MTA has promised that additional fares will be added.

Christian de Looper
Christian de Looper is a long-time freelance writer who has covered every facet of the consumer tech and electric vehicle…
iPhone 17e surfaces in new leak, and it might be closer than you think
A person holding the Apple iPhone 16e showing the screen.

Apple's iPhone 16e is still fresh, but it still made a good impression and earned its place among some of the best smartphones for budget-oriented users. This led many Apple fans to wonder whether the 16e was a one-off or not. According to a reliable leaker, it seems that Apple is set on making the iPhone 17e, and it's already working on the new phone.

Anyone who wonders about the future of the iPhone 16e is most likely not alone. After all, the 16e replaced the iPhone SE, and that left it in a peculiar position in Apple's smartphone range. As it was made clear that the 16e belongs to Apple's iPhone 16 lineup, many expected it to receive a yearly release schedule, much like what the higher-end models follow. On the other hand, the SE had its own update schedule and wasn't refreshed at the same time as the other iPhones. It's hard not to wonder where that leaves the iPhone 16e, which both belongs to a generation and is a replacement for the SE.

Read more
The iPhone 17 Pro might debut a never-before-seen iPhone color
Alleged concept render of the iPhone 17 Air in black.

The iPhone 17 lineup is expected to launch in September, assuming Apple sticks to its usual schedule and isn't impacted by tariffs. The iPhone 17 Pro, in particular, could come with a new color never seen on an iPhone before: Sky Blue, the same finish that's on the new MacBook Air units.

Majin Bu, a well-known leaker, shared the news on his website. According to Bu, "sources close to the supply chain confirm that several iPhone 17 Pro prototypes have been made in various colors, with Sky Blue currently the frontrunner." Compared to the more muted colors Apple has gone with in its more recent devices, a Sky Blue option is a welcome (and brighter) change.

Read more
Google Gemini: Everything you need to know
Gemini Live running on Google Pixel 9a.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere right now. Applications like ChatGPT are in the news almost daily for their advancements, while others like Claude are being used to do everything from drafting cover letters to writing (admittedly bad) novels. Google Gemini is Google's latest foray into that AI arena, replacing Google Assistant in many ways — and it's integrated into numerous mobile devices, like the Google Pixel line of phones.

Understanding what Gemini is and what it can do might seem daunting, but it's easier than you think. It can also greatly simplify specific day-to-day tasks and help you find answers to questions you didn't even know you had, all without reading through pages and pages of articles. Here's everything you need to know to not only start using Gemini, but making it work for you.

Read more