MBTA to Welcome Apple Pay in September
If the July MBTA fare raise has you down, at least paying those fares is getting a little easier. Beginning this fall, commuter rail and ferry travelers will be able to pay for tickets through the MBTA mTicket app with Apple Pay.
The MBTA’s mobile app for Android and iOS launched in 2012 and is a partnership with London-based technology firm Masabi. Since its launch, the app has generated $103 million in revenue with more than one-third of passengers buying their ticket through the mobile app and has minimized the cost of collecting fares on board, according to an MBTA report.
If you’re a big Apple Pay fan, you’ll need to have mTicket first, so make sure to download it via the App Store. For now, app users can buy weekly, one-way, round-trip, and monthly commuter rail passes with credit or debit cards, but starting in September, passengers will be able to pay in the app via Apple Pay and MasterPass, MasterCard’s digital wallet. If purchased through the mobile app, your pass will be shown to the conductor through the “My Tickets” section.
MBTA mTicket app on iPhone
“It’s very innovative in terms of user experience,” said Masabi CEO Brian Zanghi in an interview with the Boston Business Journal about the MBTA mTicket app. “The alternative would be people standing in lines, buying tickets using cash. This puts the ticket machine in their pocket, and it’s a huge convenience.”
Still not as cool as sesame rings, though.
