Thread

1. HiPhish · 1791022308 · focus · HN ↗

   In Germany I have a monthly plan. I got a physical card with an NFC chip inside it. No app shenanigans. I can pause and renew my plan from home: log into the Bahn website, go to my account settings and adjust things there.

   The real issue is not smartphones, iOS and Android or apps. The issue is that independent technical standards are intentionally ignored. There is no reason that I should not be able to set my plan through curl and hand-draw the QR code with pen and paper. Sure, I would not want to actually do it like that, that's not the point. The point is: if I can use curl and pen & paper, then I can use whatever else I want. If I want to use a smartphone I should be able to code my own app according to a well-documented public API. Those APIs already do exist, otherwise the official app would not work, so it's no extra work for the service provider.

   We need a law that mandates open specifications for access to all publicly available services.

   1. fabian2k · 1791032232 · focus · HN ↗

      The problem is that there seems to be a serious amount of fraud there. I suspect the susceptibility to fraud is at least partially self-inflicted here, but the Deutschlandticket is well known to have been abused in various ways.

      So the providers want a live verification, not a static QR code that always remains valid for a month or so. My understanding that this is both, to combat fraud where fake tickets are sold (well, real ones but bought with fake or stolen payment methods) as well as people using tickets other than their own. The latter is theoretically prevented by checking photo ID, but almost nobody does that in practice.

      So they force the app because it's slightly harder to fake than just copying the QR code. I don't think you'll get a more open system here unless the underlying vulnerabilities are fixed in some way. And you'd probably need to embed photo ID information in the ticket somehow to prevent multiple people from using a ticket, and I doubt that will happen for privacy reasons.

      1. seba_dos1 · 1791041371 · focus · HN ↗

         My NFC public transport ticket cards that I've been using over the last 20 years across two cities I lived in all had my photo printed on them, so I don't think it's a big deal to encode it in the ticket. These days you could even just link it to/sign it with electronic IDs instead.
      2. beej71 · 1791056748 · focus · HN ↗

         I like what Mexico City does on their metro. You can buy a card for MX$15 (~US$1), and then load it with cash. Then it's MX$5 flat to ride anywhere in the system. You can even enter with the card and then hand it back to your next family member and they can enter.

         Obviously the flat rate doesn't work everywhere, but it absolutely sidesteps a bunch of issues.

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