NXP and Google Pay Update Melbourne’s Transit System

Public Transit Victoria (PTV) has integrated NXP’s MIFARE 2GO to create a mobile version of its myki transit cards. MIFARE 2GO is a cloud-based Android platform that will allow Australian commuters in Melbourne and the surrounding area to forego physical tickets and ride the bus, train, or tram after purchasing a fare with Google Pay.   

“We’re excited to work with PTV to help ease the daily journey for commuters,” said Prakash Hariramani, the Director for Product Management of Google Pay. “Google Pay aims to create an effortless, immersive mobile transit experience for users, removing the friction of getting a ticket and saving valuable time for busy commuters.”

With MIFARE 2GO, people will be able to use Google Pay to buy fares and add funds to their virtual myki accounts. Those with a compatible Android device will be able to board a train by holding their phone to the transit terminal, which will make transit more efficient and make it easier for PTV to process its 600 million annual transactions.

“NXP’s leadership in transit payment and ticketing gives us unique insight into the complex and challenging task of incorporating mobile into an entire transit infrastructure,” said NXP SVP Rafael Sotomayor. “With MIFARE 2GO, we created an integrated cloud interface that makes it easier than ever to support mobile ticketing on all NFC-enabled devices—while helping to prevent costly changes in the business logic and high investments in infrastructure upgrades.”

NXP first integrated MIFARE and Google Pay in March of 2018, and added mPayments support for watches and other devices later in the year. More recently, the company opened an industrial IoT R&D lab in Hamburg to further its efforts in the space.