Look inside your Apple Wallet!
- By Chaix Manon
- In
Do you have an iPhone?
Then open your wallet, click on +, and choose “Travel Card”.
Do it now. We’ll wait…
Done? Your wallet should be showing you all the iPhone transport ticketing applications available worldwide.
What do you notice? Look carefully!
In Europe, you’ll find only one option: the Navigo application for the Île-de-France region, which has become the first – and so far only – European ticketing application in the Apple Wallet, thanks in no small part to Calypso open standards.
Are you surprised? Surely London offers this? Can’t I use my iPhone to get on the London Underground?!
When you use your iPhone on the London Underground, or in other cities for that matter, it’s your bank card in the wallet that’s used. It’s an open payment, but you don’t have access to all the network tickets on offer: an Oyster season ticket is not in the iPhone. A Navigo season ticket, however, is in the iPhone.
This is a major difference, because it allows all travellers with an iPhone to use it, whether they are regular commuters or occasional travellers, unlike open payment, which is limited to certain categories of public transport passengers.
Delivering a world first with Calypso
This is a big deal for us and it’s a big deal for Paris. Why? Because it’s in our DNA to make transport ticketing accessible and available to all. It’s part of our mission to help dematerialize the ticketing world. And it’s another way to enable choice for passengers in a way that is sustainable yet innovative for operators and authorities.
Look back at that list on your iPhone: there’s dozens of options in China, three in Japan and three in the USA. That’s it. And all of these applications rely solely on a stored value, a reserve of money, debited like an electronic purse or wallet, without offering a full range of fare options.
The Navigo application, on the other hand, because it’s delivered by open standards from Calypso, can cover the whole range of fares: unit-value fares (such as zonal rates), fixed-date subscriptions (like a monthly travel pass), but also variable-date subscriptions, activated on first validation (such as transport tickets being offered for the Olympic Games in Paris this summer), Pay as you Go fares, and more.
So, it’s in this respect that we can proudly state that Navigo on the iPhone is unique in the world, as it is the only complete ticketing application open to all types of tariff system in the Apple Wallet.
Félicitations to our friends at Apple and Île-de-France Mobilités for implementing this offer – a major achievement – in time for one of the world’s major sporting events. Truly a world record!