BLIK from Poland - https://www.blik.com/en/how-to-use-blik
It's a code you generate in your bank app to pay for anything - no need to fill in card details etc, you just provide this one time code.
What services or apps did you see abroad and wonder: why don't we have them?
41–50 of 99 posts
Re: What services or apps did you see abroad and wonder: why don't we have them?
#42The Swiss public transport ticketing system. Their app uses location services to automatically determine your fare, so you don’t need to buy tickets in advance: https://www.sbb.ch/en/travel-information/apps/sbb-mobile/eas... . As a bonus there are no ticket barriers so no queues and no overheads of maintaining those machines.
I believe Copenhagen has this too now. I visited in the same week they were launching the system (last year?) and it worked perfectly. All you had to do was press a button on your phone as you enter and leave the station and it automatically calculates what you owe. I loved it. It also worked throughout all of the different train systems.
Whenever I use that one I forget to check out then bike half across town several times over and at 3 in the morning I get a huge ticket.
Re: What services or apps did you see abroad and wonder: why don't we have them?
#43Old school but all the machines for paying in cash in Japan are so optimized for speed. Train stations, onboard buses, convenience stores. Just throw in a handful of coins and it quickly picks what it needs and returns what it doesn’t. In other countries (eg australia), the ticket machines could only take a single coin at a time and would reject if you did it too fast. I believe this is one (of several) reasons why c…
Sydney lets you use your credit card to tap on to trains and buses, which is very nice
Re: What services or apps did you see abroad and wonder: why don't we have them?
#44The Swiss public transport ticketing system. Their app uses location services to automatically determine your fare, so you don’t need to buy tickets in advance: https://www.sbb.ch/en/travel-information/apps/sbb-mobile/eas... . As a bonus there are no ticket barriers so no queues and no overheads of maintaining those machines.
I don't understand how so many tech-minded people on this site completely disregard the value of privacy. How is this a win?
My expectation of privacy when in a vehicle with dozens if not hundreds of strangers with cameras is low.
Re: What services or apps did you see abroad and wonder: why don't we have them?
#45BankID (or Freja ID) in Sweden which makes login to almost everything a breeze.
- Sweden’s national digital ID, run by banks - Used for login, payments, contracts, gov services - Legally binding like a handwritten signature
Re: What services or apps did you see abroad and wonder: why don't we have them?
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
What an Orwellian nightmare. These systems require real-time GPS data. Just as buying a ticket with cash is becoming increasingly hard in parts of Europe, I can see a near future where having a phone sending constant GPS updates becomes a requirement (a requirement in an strict sense, or the sense that the alternative is unreasonably cumbersome or more expensive)
Sending GPS updates from the subway?
There are many public transport systems that are not a subway. There are trains and buses that are wholly above ground, for example.
Re: What services or apps did you see abroad and wonder: why don't we have them?
#47BankID (or Freja ID) in Sweden which makes login to almost everything a breeze. - Sweden’s national digital ID, run by banks - Used for login, payments, contracts, gov services - Legally binding like a handwritten signature
How does someone login via this system? I'm asking because it has the force of law. In that sense, I can't imagine that passwords alone would be enough.
Re: What services or apps did you see abroad and wonder: why don't we have them?
#48Old school but all the machines for paying in cash in Japan are so optimized for speed. Train stations, onboard buses, convenience stores. Just throw in a handful of coins and it quickly picks what it needs and returns what it doesn’t. In other countries (eg australia), the ticket machines could only take a single coin at a time and would reject if you did it too fast. I believe this is one (of several) reasons why c…
We have the tech in the USA but it’s only ever used for coin counting machines (which themselves are relatively rare).
Not only in coin counting machines.
I've seen people on YouTube using the U-Scan at Walmart like a CoinStar. Apparently if you lift where the coin slot is you can dump in coins and it will process it all. If the total is more than your bill, it gives you the money back.
While I'm not sure about the refund of an overpayment, there are also the toll booths that have buckets to throw change into. Though most tolls seem to be electronic these days.
Re: What services or apps did you see abroad and wonder: why don't we have them?
#49If I can go the other way - one thing the USA has that Europe, at least, doesn’t - the ADA. US businesses are basically all wheelchair accessible - easily, too. Most sidewalks have curb cuts at street crossings. Ramps are commonplace. This is NOT the cause in Europe, and not only in the historic old buildings. Even using a stroller is noticeably different; I can’t imagine being in a wheelchair in some cities.
Basically every building in Ireland is wheelchair accessible in some form.
Has been for well over twenty years at this point.
It had a number of unexpected consequences, like making it much harder/illegal to rent flats over shops in much of the city centres.
Re: What services or apps did you see abroad and wonder: why don't we have them?
#50Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sending GPS updates from the subway?
There are many public transport systems that are not a subway. There are trains and buses that are wholly above ground, for example.
Yes, but underground systems are a substantial part of many mass transit networks, and even for those that aren't underground, GPS connection can't be considered reliable. Anyway if you are scared of Orwellian nightmares you shouldn't use public transport anyway as there are CCTVs everywhere.