Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Getting my library cards onto my phone the hard way

iliana.fyi

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 181 posts

Re: Getting my library cards onto my phone the hard way

#171

Post by gremlinunderway »

philistine wrote: post #91
monksy wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This system really sucks because you can't just slide your wallet over the reader. It'll pick up your cc before your transit pass. The move to do tap based transit with cc s is pretty stupid as that cc s get replace far more frequently than transit cards. The only person this really benefits is new users to the system that haven't figured out how to get a transit card yet.

Transit authorities are really being hammered with lower ridership right now. Now's the time to get rid of all the friction that prevents usage, like requiring bespoke payment solutions that need prior preparation.

Or we should be funding transit 100% from taxes because it's infrastructure that everyone benefits from (even drivers, because more transit, less other cars on the road).

You know what would prevent all friction? Making it free and properly funding it from public funding. It's literally one of those things where it doesn't matter who uses it because everyone benefits (if a rich guy gets on it for free, that's still good even though they "could have afforded it").

Re: Getting my library cards onto my phone the hard way

#172

Post by lxgr »

jldugger wrote: post #169
lxgr wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Definitely, but what I mean is that that's not a failure mode specific to Apple passes. If a screenshot a barcode works, so should the pass, and vice versa.

Still seems like a waste of time if your MVP fails tho.

It's not too hard to imagine other use cases for 2D barcodes in Passbook/Wallet, even if one specific library does not work out.

Loyalty cards at retailers come to mind, for example. POS systems often support scanning coupons from phone screens.

Re: Getting my library cards onto my phone the hard way

#173

Post by philistine »

gremlinunderway wrote: post #171
philistine wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Transit authorities are really being hammered with lower ridership right now. Now's the time to get rid of all the friction that prevents usage, like requiring bespoke payment solutions that need prior preparation.

Or we should be funding transit 100% from taxes because it's infrastructure that everyone benefits from (even drivers, because more transit, less other cars on the road). You know what would prevent all friction? Making it free and properly funding it from public funding. It's literally one of those things where it doesn't matter who uses it because everyone benefits (if a rich guy gets on it for free, that's still g…

Well yeah. That's the ultimate friction.

Re: Getting my library cards onto my phone the hard way

#174

Post by xnx »

bobthepanda wrote: post #40
Kye wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how much it costs to maintain a system to collect fares compared the small portion of funding most transit systems would lose from going fare free.

Depending on the agency it’s not very small. New York MTA has a farebox recovery of about 40-50% in any given year, and few people or organizations could stomach a pay cut of half without serious damage.

Whoa. Does that mean the other half of the money comes from people who don't use the MTA?

Re: Getting my library cards onto my phone the hard way

#175

Post by Liskni_si »

tomsmeding wrote: post #149

For the Android users around who hate Google Wallet because it, like Apple's Passbook, doesn't allow you to just put in any old barcode, there is a delightful app on F-Droid (not on the Google Play Store, unfortunately) called Loyalty Card Keychain ( https://f-droid.org/en/packages/protect.card_locker/ ). This app allows you to simply enter a number (or scan an existing barcode), choose a barcode type (with lots of o…

There's an app that lets you add whatever barcodes you want into Google Wallet: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=color.dev.com....

Re: Getting my library cards onto my phone the hard way

#177

Post by bobthepanda »

xnx wrote: post #174
bobthepanda wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on the agency it’s not very small. New York MTA has a farebox recovery of about 40-50% in any given year, and few people or organizations could stomach a pay cut of half without serious damage.

Whoa. Does that mean the other half of the money comes from people who don't use the MTA?

It comes from general taxes. But thats the same with nearly all transportation infrastructure, people without cars are paying general funds taxes for roads, since gas taxes do not cover all road funding.

It’s worth noting that the MTA is necessary for car drivers as well. Whenever it gets knocked out due to a hurricane and travelers switch to driving, there is gridlock across the entire region and travel comes to a screeching halt.

Re: Getting my library cards onto my phone the hard way

#179

Post by ivlad »

ta8903 wrote: post #163
ivlad wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That would require granting Starbucks app access to your location, even when the app is in background. Why would you do that?

As opposed to giving Apple/Google access to your location.

Apple/Google know your location anyway. It’s about limiting the number of parties that do.

Re: Getting my library cards onto my phone the hard way

#180

Post by themadturk »

manchego wrote: post #152
Kye wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Analemma_'s comment made it sound like some broad and well-studied thing. All I've seen is mention of a single city. This is not remotely enough to support the claim. My claim was based on skimming an article that said fares ranged from about 10 to 50% of funding and I speculated that most probably tended toward 10% since most are small, and small ones depend on federal funding, special purpose taxes (Georgia has a l…

I seemed to remember reading something similar about Austin's buses when they went fare-free in the 80s. I found this linked in the Austin CapMetro wiki page: http://www.nctr.usf.edu/pdf/473-132.pdf

This reminds me of MetaFilter, where a one-time $5 payment is required to post. Just this small speedbump seems to do a pretty good job of keeping opportunistic trolls and vandals off the site. "Free" is too often an invitation to abuse.
Post reply on HN