Dubai Transit Authority Plans to Launch Its Closed-Loop Card in More NFC Wallets

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Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority, or RTA, which in December first launched mobile fare payments with a digital version of its closed-loop card in Huawei smartphones, says it plans to expand the service to other OEMs, including Apple and Samsung. 

The December launch of the agency’s “nol” card on Huawei devices and planned expansion to other OEMs makes RTA one of the latest transit agencies to enable NFC mobile fare payments with closed-loop cards. Apple in particular has been active in recent months in adding closed-loop cards, in such cities as Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C. Apple Pay and other NFC payments services, such as Google Pay and Samsung Pay, support open-loop fare payments in even more cities than they do with closed-loop cards. 

Mohammed Al Khayat, director of automatic collection systems at RTA, speaking at a Transport Ticketing Digital virtual conference in March, said the agency now puts its nol cards onto embedded secure elements in Huawei NFC-enabled smartphones. Huawei Mate and P series smartphones and the Nova 5G model currently support the digital nol cards.

He noted that the authority has “plans to expand with other OEMs.” RTA said later that Apple and Samsung devices are “on the roadmap,” but the agency did not say if these services would definitely launch and, if so, when. Putting its virtual cards onto secure elements in Apple and Samsung devices would mean they would be part of the device makers’ mobile wallets and would work with Apple Pay and Samsung Pay, respectively. 

Al Khayat said RTA is moving to digital nol cards because they are “fast,” “easy” and “secure” and helps Dubai meet its cashless-payments goals. He added that the agency also is “prioritizing” mobile ticketing and cashless payments in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Cashless means contactless and contactless means clean,” he said. “And in the post-Covid world, this is one of the biggest benefits of going cash-free, but it’s only one.” 

He said RTA also believes that cashless apps will increase customer satisfaction and lead to higher retention rates. And, for public transit, mobile ticketing reduces the need for ticket booths and vending machines, and this would “save RTA money on machines and human resources, while saving our passengers the hassle of queues,” he added.

Customers can now tap stored-value nol cards, which use Mifare DESFire technology from NXP Semiconductors, to pay for fares on the Dubai Metro, as well as on buses, trams, water buses and for parking fares. They also can use the cards to make retail purchases in more than 2,000 stores in the city and to gain entrance to some parks and museums.

In 2020, RTA said it served just under 114 million riders on the Dubai Metro, which was down because of the pandemic. In a normal year, it serves 650,000 riders per day on the metro.

With its “nol Pay” app, customers can top up value to the card and request refunds and likely to request virtual cards. But they cannot use the app by itself to pay. They must link the app to Huawei’s Wallet to make payments at transit gates and at other validators. 

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