2 months ago
- The author traveled to multiple cities and found ticketing systems for public transport varied widely in usability.
- Basel offered a free transport card from hotels, making it effortless for tourists and nearly ideal.
- Milano used contactless credit cards with daily fare caps, simplifying payment and user experience.
- Warsaw required paper tickets from kiosks with manual validation, slightly inconvenient but generally functional.
- Tallinn required a dedicated app for QR code tickets, adding minor friction with ticket type choices.
- Riga's app required scanning a QR code on each vehicle despite having a pass, making it cumbersome.
- Melbourne needed a reloadable plastic card with non-refundable balances, leading to wasted money.
- Paris was criticized for requiring multiple apps and complex, separate tickets for different transport modes.
- Japan's Suica card worked seamlessly across cities once obtained, though topped up with cash initially.
- The author advocates for systems that minimize cognitive load, favoring contactless payments with caps or free transport.
- Comments highlighted other examples like Luxembourg's free transport and London's tap-on/tap-off system.
- Common pain points included zone-based pricing, multiple apps per city, and validation complexities.