Comment by occz
Public transit in Stockholm has in the last ten years done two things that make for a godlike ride payment UX:
1. Removed the concept of zones - everything is now covered by one single ticket 2. Introduced tap-to-pay support for debit/credit cards
This means that you as a user can always just show up with the overwhelmingly most common way to pay for things in Sweden - by card - tap once, and then you're done. No more actions required. Need to transfer? No problem, the virtual ticket you bought by tapping your card is valid for 75 minutes, no more money will be charged if you tap again within this window.
No fumbling with an app, no awkward QR code scanning, just one tap and go. Peak UX.
Same with Edinburgh. Except that we also cap daily and weekly fees. So it's £2.20 for a single ticket to anywhere, maxing out at £5.00 per day, and £24.50 per week.
(And if you're regularly travelling more than that, then you can pay for a card that will give you unlimited bus/tram travel for £70/month.)