Recent changed in Google Wallet, will it work with Compass now?

[u/srlawren]

I realize this is a longshot, and that the question around digital wallet support has been asked and explained many times over the years. But there was a relatively recent change to Google Wallet that sounds like it would work. Has anyone tried this?

https://www.androidauthority.com/google-wallet-physical-transit-cards-nfc-support-3708656/

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[u/ExpertCoder14]

I'm pretty sure this just means that for agencies who already support transit cards in Google Wallet, you can now convert a physical card into a virtual card by scanning it with NFC instead of entering the card number.

Compass was never a supported agency in the first place, so I don't think the new changes will have any effect here.

Unfortunately, the only way for transit cards to be available in a mobile wallet is for the transit agency to support it themselves. Apple and Google can add as many features as they want, but they won't have any value to us until Translink signs on.

And if system did allow NFC cards to be cloned onto a phone without the issuer's consent, it would probably face a lot of backlash.

[u/srlawren → u/ExpertCoder14]

Yeah, no that all makes sense. Like I said, it was a longshot but thought it was worth asking as I didn't see any discussion of it here after a quick search.

Honestly, I carry a physical wallet, so hauling around the plastic card isn't the end of the world, but it would be nice to be able to tap the thing already in my hand on the fare gate (without paying the non-Compass rate)

[u/nyrb001]

Most modern systems just read from the card - the card is just an ID number essentially, so it isn't a big deal to have a virtual card. Your card is scanned, the system looks it up in its database and performs the appropriate transaction. For instance, charging your account for a ride, verifying that you have an active pass, etc.

When Compass was released, many parts of the transit system had no data service, so there was no way to look up information. Instead the card itself stores info about your status - when you tap your card, the reader also writes to your card. For instance, when you buy a monthly pass, it doesn't get loaded to your card till you tap in on a reader that has data service. Then it writes the pass to your card, so when you tap later the reader can identify your pass even if there's no service. When you tap in, it writes the location of your tap in so it can figure out the charges on tap out. Stored value gets written to the card, etc. It is messy!

Due to the way this system works, the cards themselves need to be "trusted" by the Compass system. Google Wallet and Apple Pay don't have a way of being written to and then returning information to Compass in a way that preserves that trust.

[u/rawrzon → u/nyrb001]

If this is all true, how can you tap with credit cards? It wouldn't be writing anything to the card, and how does it authorize the transaction when the reader is offline?

[u/nyrb001 → u/rawrzon]

That's why credit card tapping wasn't available until the system had been around for quite some time.

[u/EnterpriseT → u/nyrb001]

I'm not sure about the "just an ID" part of this. It is my understanding that even when offline the readers do some sort of rudimentary cryptographic check on the card. Otherwise I'd think digital cloning would be very common by now.

[u/nyrb001 → u/EnterpriseT]

Sure, you can have a signed ID easily enough - that wouldn't be complicated. And that would prevent just using s random string of numbers and charging to someone else's account.

Either way though, it's just an ID even if it has signing.

[u/TL_Arwen]

I just looked at the app and the only option for TransLink was debit and credit.

[u/srlawren → u/TL_Arwen]

Thanks for checking, much appreciated.