Wallet for train travel #627
Description
There's been some discussion recently it the International Union of Railways on how this EU Digital Identity Wallet could be used for train travel. Travel is also listed as one of the uses for this Wallet on its project page. I'm opening this issue to ask for some clarification on how this is envisaged to work, and to provide some perspective from the railway industry.
In principle, the idea of digital ticketing is wholeheartedly supported by the railways. Adoption of Apple Wallet and Google Wallet passes for train tickets is mature and widespread. What concerns me here, is that the EU Digital Identity Wallet seems to want to do everything its own special way, using ISO mDL Verifiable Credentials.
The EU's railways have been doing just fine for years with a barcode based standard for train ticketing, and we'd like to keep going with what we know works. Further details can be found here: https://github.com/UnionInternationalCheminsdeFer/UIC-barcode and https://github.com/EU-Agency-for-Railways/Telematics-TSI/blob/main/ERA_TD_B12.pdf
There doesn't seem to be scope for the EU Digital Identity Wallet simply showing a barcode as part of a credential. I.e. the train ticket is installed into the Wallet, along with the Aztec code for travel. Asking all validators to move to conducting a full ISO mDL exchange, merely to read a train ticket, will go nowhere. If the goal of this project is to provide an alternative to Apple's and Google's Wallets, support for generic barcoded passes seems like a must.
There is also upcoming work from the UIC for rotating barcodes (see here: https://github.com/UnionInternationalCheminsdeFer/UIC-barcode/blob/master/misc/uicBarcodeHeader_v2.0.1.asn), to help prevent ticketing duplication fraud. Support for such rotating barcodes requires support from the display app. A common standard, integrated into the EU Wallet, would greatly simplify travel for people, and remove the need for ticket issuers to implement this rotating barcode in their app directly.
Condensing all of this, I have a few questions:
- What is the expectation from the EU for the usage of their Wallet for train travel?
- What is the appetite to integrate existing solutions into the Wallet, instead of reinventing the wheel?