Tag Archives: google pay

Ask a Techspert: How do digital wallets work?

In recent months, you may have gone out to dinner only to realize you left your COVID vaccine card at home. Luckily, the host is OK with the photo of it on your phone. In this case, it’s acceptable to show someone a picture of a card, but for other things it isn’t — an image of your driver’s license or credit card certainly won’t work. So what makes digital versions of these items more legit than a photo? To better understand the digitization of what goes into our wallets and purses, I talked to product manager Dong Min Kim, who works on the brand new Google Wallet. Google Wallet, which will be coming soon in over 40 countries, is the new digital wallet for Android and Wear OS devices…but how does it work?

Let’s start with a basic question: What is a digital wallet?

A digital wallet is simply an application that holds digital versions of the physical items you carry around in your actual wallet or purse. We’ve seen this shift where something you physically carry around becomes part of your smartphone before, right?

Like..?

Look at the camera: You used to carry around a separate item, a camera, to take photos. It was a unique device that did a specific thing. Then, thanks to improvements in computing power, hardware and image processing algorithms, engineers merged the function of the camera — taking photos — into mobile phones. So now, you don’t have to carry around both, if you don’t want to.

Ahhh yes, I am old enough to remember attending college gatherings with my digital camera andmy flip phone.

Ha! So think about what else you carry around: your wallet and your keys.

So the big picture here is that digital wallets help us carry around less stuff?

That’s certainly something we’re thinking about, but it’s more about how we can make these experiences — the ones where you need to use a camera, or in our case, items from your wallet — better. For starters, there’s security: It's really hard for someone to take your phone and use your Google Wallet, or to take your card and add it to their own phone. Your financial institution will verify who you are before you can add a card to your phone, and you can set a screen lock so a stranger can’t access what’s on your device. And should you lose your device, you can remotely locate, lock or even wipe it from “Find My Device.”

What else can Google Wallet do that my physical wallet can’t?

If you saved your boarding pass for a flight to Google Wallet, it will notify you of delays and gate changes. When you head to a concert, you’ll receive a notification on your phone beforehand, reminding you of your saved tickets.

Wallet also works with other Google apps — for instance if you’re taking the bus to see a friend and look up directions in Google Maps, your transit card and balance will show up alongside the route. If you're running low on fare, you can tap and add more. We’ll also give you complete control over how items in your wallet are used to enable these experiences; for example, the personal information on your COVID vaccine pass is kept on your device and never shared without your permission, not even with Google.

Plus, even if you lose your credit or debit card and you’re waiting for the replacement to show up, you can still use that card with Google Wallet because of the virtual number attached to it.

This might be taking a step backwards, but can I pay someone from my Google Wallet? As in can I send money from a debit card, or straight from my bank account?

That’s actually where the Google Pay app — which is available in markets like the U.S., India and Singapore — comes in. We’ll keep growing this app as a companion app where you can do more payments-focused things like send and receive money from friends or businesses, discover offers from your favorite retailers or manage your transactions.

OK, but can I pay with my Google Wallet?

Yes,you can still pay with the cards stored in your Google Wallet in stores where Google Pay is accepted; it’s simple and secure.

Use payment cards in Google Wallet in stores with Google Pay, got it — but how does everything else “get” into Wallet?

We've already partnered with hundreds of transit agencies, retailers, ticket providers, health agencies and airlines so they can create digital versions of their cards or tickets for Google Wallet. You can add a card or ticket directly to Wallet, or within the apps or sites of businesses we partner with, you’ll see an option to add it to Wallet. We’re working on adding more types of content for Wallet, too, like digital IDs, or office and hotel keys.

An image of the Google Wallet app open on a Pixel phone. The app is showing a Chase Freedom Unlimited credit card, a ticket for a flight from SFO to JFK, and a Walgreens cash reward pass. In the bottom right hand corner, there is a “Add to Wallet” button.

Developers can make almost any item into a digital pass.. Developers can use the templates we’ve created, like for boarding passes and event tickets — or they can use a generic template if it’s something more unique and we don’t have a specific solution for it yet. This invitation to developers is part of what I think makes Google Wallet interesting; it’s very open.

What exactly do you mean by “open” exactly?

Well, the Android platform is open — any Android developer can use and develop for Wallet. One thing that’s great about that is all these features and tools can be made available on less expensive phones, too, so it isn’t only people who can afford the most expensive, newest phones out there who can use Google Wallet. Even if a phone can’t use some features of Google Wallet, it’s possible for developers to use QR or barcodes for their content, which more devices can access.

So working with Google Wallet is easier for developers. Any ways you’re making things easier for users?

Plenty of them! In particular, we’re working on ways to make it easy to add objects directly from your phone too. For instance, today if you take a screenshot of your boarding pass or Covid vaccine card from an Android device, we’ll give you the option to add it directly to your Google Wallet!

Living in a multi-device world with Android

Android has grown into the most popular OS in the world, delivering access, connectivity and information to people everywhere on their smartphones. There are over three billion active monthly Android devices around the world, and in the last year alone, more than a billion new Android phones have been activated. While the phone is still the most popular form of computing, people are adding more connected technologies to their lives like TVs, cars, watches and more.

As we build for a multi-device future, we’re introducing new ways to get more done. Whether it's your phone or your other devices, our updates help them all work better together.

Do more with your Android phone

With Android 13, we’re making updates to privacy and security, personalization and large screen devices. You’ve already seen a preview of this in the Developer Previews and first beta. Across the Android ecosystem, we’re also bringing more ways to keep your conversations private and secure, store your digital identity and get you help in the physical world.

We have been working with carriers and phone makers around the world to upgrade SMS text messaging to a new standard called Rich Communication Services (RCS). With RCS, you can share high-quality photos, see type indicators, message over Wi-Fi and get a better group messaging experience.

This is a huge step forward for the mobile ecosystem and we are really excited about the progress! In fact, Google's Messages app already has half a billion monthly active users with RCS and is growing fast. And, Messages already offers end-to-end encryption for your one-to-one conversations. Later this year, we’ll also be bringing encryption to your group conversations to open beta.

Three messages are shown from a group message between friends who are excited for a baking class they will take together.

Your phone can also help provide secure access to your everyday essentials. Recently, we’ve witnessed the rapid digitization of things like car keys and vaccine records. The new Google Wallet on Android will standardize the way you save and access these important items, plus things like payment cards, transit and event tickets, boarding and loyalty passes and student IDs. We’ll be launching Google Wallet on Wear OS, starting with support for payment cards.

Soon, you’ll be able to save and access hotel keys and office badges from your Android phone. And we know you can’t leave home without your ID, so we're collaborating with states across the U.S. and international partners to bring digital driver's licenses and IDs to Google Wallet later this year.

We’re developing smooth integrations with other Google apps and services while providing granular privacy controls. For example, when you add a transit card to Wallet, your card and balance will automatically show up in Google Maps when you search for directions. If your balance is running low, you can quickly tap and add fare before you arrive at the station.

A user looks at their phone for directions from the San Francisco airport on Google Maps. Since they are looking for public transportation routes, they are prompted on their phone to add fare to their Clipper card, a transit card used throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. With a tap, they add their desired amount of money to the card.

Beyond helping keep your communication and digital identities safe, your devices can be even more essential in critical moments like medical emergencies or natural disasters. In these times, chances are you’ll have either your phone or watch on you. We built critical infrastructure into Android like Emergency Location Services (ELS) to help first responders locate you when you call for help. We recently launched ELS in Bulgaria, Paraguay, Spain and Saudi Arabia, and it is now available to more than one billion people worldwide.

Early Earthquake Warnings are already in place in 25 countries, and this year we’ll launch them in many of the remaining high-risk regions around the world. This year, we’ll also start working with partners to bring Emergency SOS to Wear OS, so you can instantly contact a trusted friend or family member or call emergency services from your watch.

A watch screen depicts the Emergency SOS feature. The watch face has an outline of a red circle that counts down the time before an emergency call is made directly from the watch. In this example 911 is called.

Apps and services that extend beyond the phone

Along with your phone, two of the most important and personal devices in our lives are watches and tablets.

With the launch of our unified platform with Samsung last year, there are now over three times as many active Wear OS devices as there were last year. Later this year, you’ll start to see more devices powered with Wear OS from Samsung, Fossil Group, Montblanc, Mobvoi and others. And for the first time ever, Google Assistant is coming to Samsung Galaxy watches, starting soon with the Watch4 series. The Google Assistant experience for Wear OS has been improved with faster, more natural voice interactions, so you can access useful features like voice-controlled navigation or setting reminders.

We’re also bringing more of your favorite apps to Wear OS. Check out experiences built for your wrist by Spotify, adidas Running, LINE and KakaoTalk. And you’ll see many more from apps like SoundCloud and Deezer later this year.

Various app logos including Spotify, adidas Running, LINE, and more are spread out in a circle outside of a watch.

We’re investing in tablets in a big way and have made updates to the interface in 12L and Android 13 that optimize information for the larger screen. We’ve also introduced new features that help you multitask — for example, tap the toolbar to view the app tray and drag and drop apps to view them in a side by side view.

To support these system-level updates, we’ve also been working to improve the app experiences on Android tablets. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be updating more than 20 Google apps to take full advantage of the extra space including YouTube Music, Google Maps, Messages and more.

A collage of colorful tablets are shown, each tablet with a different app running on its screen such as Google Translate, Google Maps, Google TV, Google Photos, Gmail, and more. The Android logo is in the center of the image with the text “20+ optimized Google tablet apps” written in large lettering.

We’re working with other apps to revamp their experiences this year as well, including TikTok, Zoom, Facebook and many others. You’ll soon be able to easily search for all tablet-optimized apps thanks to updates to Google Play.

The Google Play app is open on a tablet. Apps like TikTok, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Zoom are listed under the “Top Free” section of the app charts, each with an Install button beside it.

Simple ways for your devices to work better together

Getting things done can be much easier if your connected devices all communicate and work together. The openness and flexibility of Android powers phones, watches, tablets, TVs and cars — and it works well with devices like headphones, speakers, laptops and more. Across all these devices, we’re building on our efforts and introducing even more simple and helpful features to move throughout your day.

With Chromecast built-in, you can watch videos, listen to music and more on the device that makes sense depending on where you are and what you’re doing. This means after your daily commute, you can easily play the rest of a movie you were watching on your phone on your TV at home. To help you stay entertained, we’re working to extend casting capabilities to new partners and products, such as Chromebook, or even your car.

An interior of a car with YouTube video being cast from a phone to the in-car display.

Your media should just move with you, so you can automatically switch audio from your headphones while watching a movie on your tablet to your phone when answering an incoming call.

And when you need to get more done across devices, you’ll soon be able to copy a URL or picture from your phone, and paste it on your tablet.

This graphic begins with a user copying an image from the web on their phone. They select the Nearby Share icon and the image from the phone is now in the clipboard of their tablet. The user then clicks paste within a slide in Google Slides on their tablet and the image from the phone appears.

Earlier this year, we previewed multi-device experiences, like expanding Phone Hub on your Chromebook to allow you to access all your phone’s messaging apps. By streaming from your phone to the laptop, you’ll be able to send and reply to messages, view your conversation history and launch your messaging apps from your laptop. We’re also making it easier to set up and pair your devices with the expansion of Fast Pair support to more devices, including built-in support for Matter on Android.

Whether Android brings new possibilities to your phone or the many devices in your life, we’re looking forward to helping you in this multi-device world.

Stay on top of your money with Google

Staying on top of your finances can be tricky and confusing. With a ton of information available, it’s tough to know where to start — or what information to trust — when it comes to managing your money and learning about finance.

People come to Google to ask questions about a wide range of financial topics, from budgeting, home ownership and unemployment benefits to digital currencies and investment trends. April marks Financial Literacy Month, so here are some quick and easy ways Google can help you take stock of your money.

Check the source

Search interest in “how to become a crypto millionaire” increased by 3,500% in the past year across the U.S. There’s a lot of buzz about ways to make money and new investment options, and it can be difficult to decide what information is trustworthy. If you’re looking into a new digital currency, searching for investment tips, or just want some peace of mind about financial topics, it’s important to get information from a reliable source. With the About This Result feature on Google Search, you can quickly and easily learn about sources to get a sense of how they describe themselves, and how other people on the web describe them. You can also get additional context about the topic you’re looking up, like top news coverage, to see what a wide range of sources have to say.

An example of how you can use About This Result to learn more about a source and topic.

Balance your budget

In the last year, many of our top “how to” money questions on Search were asking how to do important life tasks — like eat healthy, plan a wedding or travel — on a budget. One of the best places to start is by looking at how much you’re spending. Google Sheets can be a great tool for recording your monthly expenses, income and investments, and more to understand your financial footprint. You can start from scratch on a Sheet or use templates to do things like build your budget from the ground up, manage a financial to-do list and track your finances.

Take it one step further by using the Google Pay app to track your spending in real time. You can see your spending by category or business. For example, if you search for “food,” you will see a list of all your transactions related to food. You can get even more specific, for example searching for “juice” or for a specific business like your favorite juice or smoothie bar. You can also quickly see which bills you have coming up and keep track of all your recurring subscriptions, to help you trim your expenses for that dream vacation. Google Pay also lets you pull receipts from your Gmail or Google Photos accounts, keeping all your finances organized in one place.

An example of how you can use the Google Pay app to stay on top of your money

Do your home-owning homework

Home ownership is an important goal for many people across the U.S. In fact, search interest in “should I buy a house in 2022” increased by 1,800% in the US this past year. For people looking for mortgages, it’s easy to find digestible and helpful information on this complex topic right on Search.

When you search for “mortgage process,” you’ll find easy-to-follow steps to help guide you, wherever you may be in the mortgage process. Our feature connects you to helpful news articles, industry definitions and terms and a calculator to help you understand what your monthly payments might be. This mortgage information is provided by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Understand your options

Across the country, many people have faced changes in their employment situation, and getting help isn’t always easy. Information about unemployment benefits eligibility and other government services can be hard to understand, making it difficult to navigate the process and make informed decisions about your financial situation. When looking online for unemployment benefits, we have updated our search experience to make it easy to get information on eligibility, how to apply, and get locally relevant resources for your situation.

Make Payments with Google Pay and Firebase

Posted by Stephen McDonald, Developer Relations Engineer, Google Pay

Connect Multiple Payment Gateways with Google Pay and Firebase

We recently launched a series of open source samples demonstrating the server-side integration between Google Pay and a variety of Payment Service Providers (PSPs). These samples also show how to create a unified interface for integrating multiple PSPs, making integrations as easy as possible by reducing the time investment in integrating multiple APIs and client libraries.

A recent study by 451 Research showed that for merchants with over 50% of sales occurring online, 69% of them used multiple PSPs. We first demonstrated with the aforementioned samples how you can implement a consistent interface to multiple PSPs, streamlining your codebase while also providing more flexibility for the future. We've now taken this one step further and brought this unified PSP interface to the Firebase platform, by way of a Firebase Extension for Google Pay, making it easier than ever to integrate Google Pay with one or more PSPs.

Google Pay Firebase Extension

Firebase Extensions are open source pre-packaged bundles of code that developers can easily pull into their apps, and are designed to increase productivity, and provide extended functionality to your apps without the need to research, write, or debug code on your own. Following this line, the Google Pay Firebase Extension brings the unified PSP interface to developers' Firebase apps.

With the Google Pay Firebase Extension installed, you can pass a payment token from the Google Pay API to your Cloud Firestore database. The extension will listen for a request written to the path defined during installation, and then send the request to the PSP's API. It will then write the response back to the same Firestore node.

Open Source

Like all Firebase Extensions, the Google Pay Firebase Extension is entirely open source, so you can modify the code yourself to change the functionality as you see fit, or even contribute your changes back via pull requests - the sky's the limit.

Furthermore, as the extension is backed by the aforementioned PSP samples project, the same set of PSPs are supported. Want to see your favorite PSP supported? Head on over to the PSP samples project which contains instructions for adding it.

Summing it up

Whether you're new to Google Pay or Firebase, or an existing user of either, the new Google Pay extension is designed to save you even more time and effort when integrating Google Pay and any number of Payment Service Providers with your application.

Get started with the extension today in the Firebase console.

What do you think? Follow us on Twitter for the latest updates @GooglePayDevs

Do you have any questions? Let us know in the comments below or tweet using #AskGooglePayDevs.

Manage your passes from Google Pay’s Business Console

Posted by:

Ryan Novas, Product Manager, Google Pay’s Business Console

Jose Ugia, Developer Relations Engineer, Google Pay

Last year we launched Google Pay’s Business Console, a platform that helps developers discover, integrate with, and manage Google Pay features for their businesses. Since then, integrating Google Pay products has become easier and faster, with features like a common business profile and a unified dashboard.

Today, we are adding Passes as a new section to Google Pay’s Business Console, so you can manage all your Google Pay resources from one place. You can find the new Passes section in the console’s left-hand navigation bar, and from there, access your tickets, loyalty programs, offers and other passes resources.

Google Pay’s Business Console features a more familiar and intuitive user interface that helps you reuse common bits of information, like your business information, and lets you easily navigate and discover Google Pay products, such as the Online API. Visit Google Pay’s Business Console today, and start managing your current Google Pay products, or discover and integrate with new ones.

The new Passes section in Google Pay’s Business Console lets you request access to the API and manage your passes alongside other Google Pay resources.
The new Passes section in Google Pay’s Business Console lets you request access to the API and manage your passes alongside other Google Pay resources.

Here is what early users are saying about managing Passes in the console:

“The cleaner and consistent look of Google Pay's Business Console helps us manage our Google Pay resources more intuitively." Or Maoz, Senior Director of R&D at EngagedMedia said.

The user management additions also helped EngagedMedia better represent their team in the console:

“The new user roles and controls on Google Pay's Business Console help us handle permissions more intuitively and accurately, and allow us to assign roles that better reflect our team structure more easily.”

We are committed to continuously evolving Google Pay’s Business Console to make it your go-to place to discover and manage Google Pay integrations. We’d love to hear about your experience. You can share feedback with us from the “Feedback” section in the console. We’re looking forward to learning how we can make Google Pay even more helpful for you in the future.

Learn more

Want to learn more about Google Pay?

Easily connect Google Pay with your preferred payment processor

Posted by Stephen McDonald, Developer Relations Engineer, Google Pay

Easily connect Google Pay with your preferred payment processor

Adding Google Pay as a payment method to your website or Android application provides a secure and fast checkout option for your users. To enable Google Pay, you will first need a Payment Service Provider (PSP). For the integration this means understanding how your payments processing stack works with Google Pay APIs.

End-to-end PSP samples

To make integration easier, we’ve launched a new open source project containing end-to-end samples for a range of PSPs, demonstrating the entire integration process - from client-side configuration, to server-side integration with the PSPs, using their respective APIs and client libraries where applicable. The project uses Node.js and is written in JavaScript, which most developers should find familiar. Each of the samples in the project are implemented in a consistent fashion, and demonstrate best practices for integrating Google Pay and your preferred PSP with your website or Android application.

A recent study by 451 Research showed that for merchants with over 50% of sales occurring online, 69% of merchants used multiple PSPs. With these new samples, we demonstrate how you can implement an entirely consistent interface to multiple PSPs, streamlining your codebase while also providing more flexibility for the future.

Lastly, we've also added support to both the Web and Android Google Pay sample applications, making it easy to demonstrate the new PSP samples. Simply run the PSP samples project, and configure the Web or Android samples to send their cart information and Google Pay token to the PSP samples app, which will then send the relevant data to the PSP's API and return the PSP's response back.

Initial PSPs

To start with, we've included support for 6 popular PSPs: Adyen, Braintree, Checkout.com, Cybersource, Square, and Stripe. But that's just the beginning. If you're involved with a PSP that isn't yet included, we've made adding new PSPs to the open source project as simple as possible. Just head on over to the GitHub repository which contains instructions on contributing your preferred PSP to the project.

Launching Google Pay for your website

When you’ve completed your testing, submit your website integration in the Google Pay Business Console. You will need to provide your website’s URL and screenshots to complete the submission.

Summing it up

Integrating Google Pay into your website is a great way to increase conversions and to improve the purchasing experience for your customers, and with these new open source samples, the process is even easier.

What do you think? Follow us on Twitter for the latest updates @GooglePayDevs

Do you have any questions? Let us know in the comments below or tweet using #AskGooglePayDevs.

Transit trends: the road ahead for commuters

I’ve lived in major cities around the world, from Johannesburg to Shanghai to the San Francisco Bay Area. That means public transportation has played a big role in my daily life. 


That changed last spring, when, like many people, I traded in my daily commute on the public bus for a much shorter trip to my dining room table. I wasn’t the only one transforming my kitchen into an office — transit ridership plummeted across the globe. 


While we are still far from a return to normal, we wanted to understand how people feel about returning to public transit. So we surveyed 2,000 commuters across New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Chicago to find out. Here’s what we learned: 


Image of an infographic. Two-thirds of people are eager to get back to their pre-pandemic transit habits. By city: 60% of San Francisco commuters, 56% of Chicago commuters, 59% of DC commuters, and 68% of New York City commuters said they want to get back to their pre-pandemic transit routine.

All aboard

We’ve all missed a lot during the last 18 months— from concerts and big weddings to dinner parties with family and friends. But public transportation? Turns out, surprisingly, yes. According to a recent survey we commissioned, roughly 2 in 3 people want to get back to their pre-pandemic transit routine, with New Yorkers being the most keen to return.


Infographic that answers “What do people miss most about their commute?” 54% miss not stressing about parking; 40% miss the ease of getting around; 30% miss having time to reflect on their day; and 30% miss listening to podcasts or reading.

Parallel parking not required

While I don’t miss delayed trains or crowded commutes, getting back on public transit means leaving parking behind. More than half of those we surveyed indicated that’s what they miss most about their commute. But people also value the ease public transit brings when it comes to getting around, the time it provides them to reflect on their day, the time they get for themselves for podcasts or reading and even the people-watching, with 1 in 4 people admitting they miss that part, too.


Infographic which shows the increase in popularity for mobile contactless payments, from 23% before the pandemic to 34% in the next 3-6 months. Cash payments took the biggest dive in popularity, from 42% to 32%.

Cashing out for contactless

But it’s not all about going “back to the good old days.” With the increasing popularity of contactless payments across many facets of daily life, it’s no surprise riders want to modernize their commutes as well. Increasingly, people are turning to contactless payments as a touch-free way to pay their fare. In fact, mobile contactless payments are the only payment type that increased in popularity (up 11 percentage points) when we asked commuters how they plan to pay for transit fare now versus pre-pandemic. Cash took the biggest dive, from 42% to 32%. 


What’s more, one in two people who didn’t use mobile contactless payments before the COVID-19 pandemic say they would be more comfortable riding if there were touch-free options such as mobile contactless payments or ticketing.


Of course contactless payments yield far more than a touch-free way of paying. Three in four people said the convenience factor is what they like most about contactless transit payments. Ever ran to catch a train only to realize you left your wallet at home? ? Every second counts when it comes to your commute, which is why 70% of people said what they like most is the speed of paying contactlessly. 


Tapping to pay: from uptown to downtown to your town

At Google Pay, we’ve been hard at work to help roll out mobile transit payment options in even more cities across the U.S. We’ve teamed up with transit agencies in major cities like New York, Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington to give more commuters a way to quickly and easily tap for transit fare. And, by teaming up with Token Transit, we’re bringing mobile contactless payments to more than 100 cities across the country, in bigger and smaller towns like Savannah, Georgia, Kalamazoo, Michigan and Santa Monica, California.


Everyone will navigate our new normal at a different pace. So, while some of us start to venture back out, consider ways that make your commute even a little easier. 


Findings are based on results of an online survey conducted by Allison+Partners Research + Insights. The online survey was conducted among n=2000 U.S. consumers age 18 or older who use public transit in New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., or Chicago  - 500 respondents were captured per DMA. When referenced, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was considered March 2020. The survey was fielded using Qualtrics and panel was sourced from Lucid. Fielding was executed May-June 2021.

Transit trends: the road ahead for commuters

I’ve lived in major cities around the world, from Johannesburg to Shanghai to the San Francisco Bay Area. That means public transportation has played a big role in my daily life. 


That changed last spring, when, like many people, I traded in my daily commute on the public bus for a much shorter trip to my dining room table. I wasn’t the only one transforming my kitchen into an office — transit ridership plummeted across the globe. 


While we are still far from a return to normal, we wanted to understand how people feel about returning to public transit. So we surveyed 2,000 commuters across New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Chicago to find out. Here’s what we learned: 


Image of an infographic. Two-thirds of people are eager to get back to their pre-pandemic transit habits. By city: 60% of San Francisco commuters, 56% of Chicago commuters, 59% of DC commuters, and 68% of New York City commuters said they want to get back to their pre-pandemic transit routine.

All aboard

We’ve all missed a lot during the last 18 months— from concerts and big weddings to dinner parties with family and friends. But public transportation? Turns out, surprisingly, yes. According to a recent survey we commissioned, roughly 2 in 3 people want to get back to their pre-pandemic transit routine, with New Yorkers being the most keen to return.


Infographic that answers “What do people miss most about their commute?” 54% miss not stressing about parking; 40% miss the ease of getting around; 30% miss having time to reflect on their day; and 30% miss listening to podcasts or reading.

Parallel parking not required

While I don’t miss delayed trains or crowded commutes, getting back on public transit means leaving parking behind. More than half of those we surveyed indicated that’s what they miss most about their commute. But people also value the ease public transit brings when it comes to getting around, the time it provides them to reflect on their day, the time they get for themselves for podcasts or reading and even the people-watching, with 1 in 4 people admitting they miss that part, too.


Infographic which shows the increase in popularity for mobile contactless payments, from 23% before the pandemic to 34% in the next 3-6 months. Cash payments took the biggest dive in popularity, from 42% to 32%.

Cashing out for contactless

But it’s not all about going “back to the good old days.” With the increasing popularity of contactless payments across many facets of daily life, it’s no surprise riders want to modernize their commutes as well. Increasingly, people are turning to contactless payments as a touch-free way to pay their fare. In fact, mobile contactless payments are the only payment type that increased in popularity (up 11 percentage points) when we asked commuters how they plan to pay for transit fare now versus pre-pandemic. Cash took the biggest dive, from 42% to 32%. 


What’s more, one in two people who didn’t use mobile contactless payments before the COVID-19 pandemic say they would be more comfortable riding if there were touch-free options such as mobile contactless payments or ticketing.


Of course contactless payments yield far more than a touch-free way of paying. Three in four people said the convenience factor is what they like most about contactless transit payments. Ever ran to catch a train only to realize you left your wallet at home? ? Every second counts when it comes to your commute, which is why 70% of people said what they like most is the speed of paying contactlessly. 


Tapping to pay: from uptown to downtown to your town

At Google Pay, we’ve been hard at work to help roll out mobile transit payment options in even more cities across the U.S. We’ve teamed up with transit agencies in major cities like New York, Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington to give more commuters a way to quickly and easily tap for transit fare. And, by teaming up with Token Transit, we’re bringing mobile contactless payments to more than 100 cities across the country, in bigger and smaller towns like Savannah, Georgia, Kalamazoo, Michigan and Santa Monica, California.


Everyone will navigate our new normal at a different pace. So, while some of us start to venture back out, consider ways that make your commute even a little easier. 


Findings are based on results of an online survey conducted by Allison+Partners Research + Insights. The online survey was conducted among n=2000 U.S. consumers age 18 or older who use public transit in New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., or Chicago  - 500 respondents were captured per DMA. When referenced, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was considered March 2020. The survey was fielded using Qualtrics and panel was sourced from Lucid. Fielding was executed May-June 2021.

Transit trends: the road ahead for commuters

I’ve lived in major cities around the world, from Johannesburg to Shanghai to the San Francisco Bay Area. That means public transportation has played a big role in my daily life. 


That changed last spring, when, like many people, I traded in my daily commute on the public bus for a much shorter trip to my dining room table. I wasn’t the only one transforming my kitchen into an office — transit ridership plummeted across the globe. 


While we are still far from a return to normal, we wanted to understand how people feel about returning to public transit. So we surveyed 2,000 commuters across New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C. and Chicago to find out. Here’s what we learned: 


Image of an infographic. Two-thirds of people are eager to get back to their pre-pandemic transit habits. By city: 60% of San Francisco commuters, 56% of Chicago commuters, 59% of DC commuters, and 68% of New York City commuters said they want to get back to their pre-pandemic transit routine.

All aboard

We’ve all missed a lot during the last 18 months— from concerts and big weddings to dinner parties with family and friends. But public transportation? Turns out, surprisingly, yes. According to a recent survey we commissioned, roughly 2 in 3 people want to get back to their pre-pandemic transit routine, with New Yorkers being the most keen to return.


Infographic that answers “What do people miss most about their commute?” 54% miss not stressing about parking; 40% miss the ease of getting around; 30% miss having time to reflect on their day; and 30% miss listening to podcasts or reading.

Parallel parking not required

While I don’t miss delayed trains or crowded commutes, getting back on public transit means leaving parking behind. More than half of those we surveyed indicated that’s what they miss most about their commute. But people also value the ease public transit brings when it comes to getting around, the time it provides them to reflect on their day, the time they get for themselves for podcasts or reading and even the people-watching, with 1 in 4 people admitting they miss that part, too.


Infographic which shows the increase in popularity for mobile contactless payments, from 23% before the pandemic to 34% in the next 3-6 months. Cash payments took the biggest dive in popularity, from 42% to 32%.

Cashing out for contactless

But it’s not all about going “back to the good old days.” With the increasing popularity of contactless payments across many facets of daily life, it’s no surprise riders want to modernize their commutes as well. Increasingly, people are turning to contactless payments as a touch-free way to pay their fare. In fact, mobile contactless payments are the only payment type that increased in popularity (up 11 percentage points) when we asked commuters how they plan to pay for transit fare now versus pre-pandemic. Cash took the biggest dive, from 42% to 32%. 


What’s more, one in two people who didn’t use mobile contactless payments before the COVID-19 pandemic say they would be more comfortable riding if there were touch-free options such as mobile contactless payments or ticketing.


Of course contactless payments yield far more than a touch-free way of paying. Three in four people said the convenience factor is what they like most about contactless transit payments. Ever ran to catch a train only to realize you left your wallet at home? ? Every second counts when it comes to your commute, which is why 70% of people said what they like most is the speed of paying contactlessly. 


Tapping to pay: from uptown to downtown to your town

At Google Pay, we’ve been hard at work to help roll out mobile transit payment options in even more cities across the U.S. We’ve teamed up with transit agencies in major cities like New York, Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington to give more commuters a way to quickly and easily tap for transit fare. And, by teaming up with Token Transit, we’re bringing mobile contactless payments to more than 100 cities across the country, in bigger and smaller towns like Savannah, Georgia, Kalamazoo, Michigan and Santa Monica, California.


Everyone will navigate our new normal at a different pace. So, while some of us start to venture back out, consider ways that make your commute even a little easier. 


Findings are based on results of an online survey conducted by Allison+Partners Research + Insights. The online survey was conducted among n=2000 U.S. consumers age 18 or older who use public transit in New York City, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., or Chicago  - 500 respondents were captured per DMA. When referenced, the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was considered March 2020. The survey was fielded using Qualtrics and panel was sourced from Lucid. Fielding was executed May-June 2021.

Google updates Passes API to store COVID vaccination and testing information on Android devices

Posted by Irfan Faizullabhoy

Google has updated its Passes API to enable a simple and secure way to store and access COVID vaccination and test cards on Android devices. Starting today, developers from healthcare organizations, government agencies and organizations authorized by public health authorities to distribute COVID vaccines and/or tests will have access to these APIs to create a digital version of COVID vaccination or test information. This will roll out initially in the United States followed by other countries.

Image of three smart phones side by side showing Covid vaccination cards

Example COVID Cards from Healthvana, a company serving Los Angeles County

Once a user stores the digital version of the COVID Card to their device, they will be able to access it via a shortcut on their device home screen, even when they are offline or in areas that have weak internet service. To use this feature, the device needs to run Android 5 or later and be Play Protect certified. Installing the Google Pay app is not a requirement to access COVID Cards.

The COVID Card has been designed with privacy and security at its core.

  • Storing information: The user’s COVID vaccination and test information is stored on their Android device. If a user wants to access this information on multiple devices, the user will need to manually store it on each device. Google does not retain a copy of the user’s COVID vaccination or test information.
  • Sharing information: Users can choose to show their COVID Card to others. The information in the user’s COVID Card is not shared by Google with its various services or third parties and it is not used for targeting ads.
  • Securing information: A lock screen is required in order to store a COVID Card on a device. This is for added security and to protect the user’s personal information. When a user wants to access their COVID Card, they will be asked for the password, pin or biometric method set up for their Android device.

If you are a qualified provider, please sign up to share your interest here. And, for more information about COVID cards and their privacy and security features, please see the help center.

What do you think?

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