Something that is amazing about Sydney’s system though is that as a visitor to Sydney you can likely use the train system without needing an app or any sign up. Just use your credit or debit card via nfc on your phone (or the physical one)
I was honestly so impressed by that, you mean I can just tap on? Don’t need to stand here outside the gates for 10 minutes entering my info into a frustrating app? Don’t need to buy a $10 card, only $5 of which I’ll ever use? Even with suica being pretty easy to set up on iPhone, this is definitely something Sydney’s got over Japan’s system.
Yep, and it's increasingly common around the world. In Australia, it's also fully rolled out in Brisbane and I believe it's just about finished being rolled out in Melbourne too.
It's now rolled out in Perth too, I think.
Ah that’s great news, I’m from Perth but currently living abroad.
New York and Seattle both have the same thing and it's wonderful. Google Wallet even allows the user to set it to not require an unlock for transit transactions.
Same in London, at least for Transport for London (TfL) services (including buses and trams).
Singapore too