The subway system in New York City is a few years behind our TfL system here in the UK in terms of what services is supports for payments, back when Apple Pay came out in June 2015 in the UK, London’s TfL network of buses, trams, underground, trains and even the cable cars were one of the first places it was able to be used and even before then, contactless card support was added.

A few days ago, right at the end of 2020 New York City’s subway announced support for Apple Pay, as well as Google Pay too across all the stations in NYC, which also brings support for the Apple Pay Express Travel Card, which allows you to designate one credit/debit card on iPhone and Apple Watch to be used quickly. With Express Travel Card, users only need to tap your iPhone or Apple Watch on the reader and your preferred card is used – no need to unlock.

Apple Pay Express Travel Card support for TfL was added in 2019.