Lowest bidder, government procurement is fun.

There is actually already a system of near-field passes that has been in place for several years and was supported by the old fare machines and bus boxes. The new QR scanners also appear to have an NFC scan icon on them. So I believe they're future-proof.

Maybe all phone OSes (I'm too lazy to check) but far from all phones. For example a popular budget model Realme C25Y does not have NFC, or in general terms anything that is primary designed for the Chinese market, where payments are made through WeChat with QR codes, usually misses it.