First Group adds NFC bus tickets to Google Pay • NFCW inc NFC World

Public transportation operator First Group^[4] has begun a pilot of a new mobile ticketing service that uses host card emulation (HCE) to let customers with an Android NFC phone purchase a bus ticket, provision it to Google Pay and then use their smartphone to tap an on-board contactless reader when they board a bus.

The pilot is taking place on First Glasgow bus services in the UK city of Glasgow “before being rolled out to more than 1.6 million passengers across the First Bus network”.

The service uses ITSO on Mobile^[5], a mobile ticketing solution developed by UK smart ticketing organisation ITSO, that enables UK public transport operators to deliver ITSO-compatible tickets directly to the Google Pay digital wallet on passengers’ NFC mobile phones.

“The solution securely delivers First Bus tickets within seconds from the operator’s app directly into the passenger’s Google Pay digital wallet,” ITSO explains.

“The ticket on the handset emulates a standard ITSO smart card and is instantly recognised by ticket validator machines or gates,” it adds.

“The smartphone serves as both ticket machine and ticket to provide a modern, end-to-end mobile ticketing solution.”

“Giving bus passengers the option to use their phone as both