diff --git a/src/compile/scale/type.ts b/src/compile/scale/type.ts
index 5397936675..e4c42ec496 100644
--- a/src/compile/scale/type.ts
+++ b/src/compile/scale/type.ts
@@ -117,8 +117,7 @@ function defaultType(
       } else if (isFieldDef(fieldDef) && fieldDef.timeUnit && normalizeTimeUnit(fieldDef.timeUnit).utc) {
         return 'utc';
       } else if (isTime(channel)) {
-        // return 'linear';
-        return 'band'; // TODO(jzong): when interpolation is implemented, this should be 'linear'
+        return 'linear';
       }
 
       return 'time';
@@ -135,8 +134,7 @@ function defaultType(
         // TODO: consider using quantize (equivalent to binning) once we have it
         return 'ordinal';
       } else if (isTime(channel)) {
-        // return 'linear';
-        return 'band'; // TODO(jzong): when interpolation is implemented, this should be 'linear'
+        return 'linear';
       }
 
       return 'linear';
diff --git a/test/compile/scale/type.test.ts b/test/compile/scale/type.test.ts
index 841ac59fb5..9546fd6e07 100644
--- a/test/compile/scale/type.test.ts
+++ b/test/compile/scale/type.test.ts
@@ -159,6 +159,13 @@ describe('compile/scale', () => {
           });
         });
       });
+
+      describe('time (animation)', () => {
+        it('should return band scale for nominal/ordinal data by default.', () => {
+          expect(scaleType({}, 'time', {type: 'nominal'}, 'point')).toEqual(ScaleType.BAND);
+          expect(scaleType({}, 'time', {type: 'ordinal'}, 'point')).toEqual(ScaleType.BAND);
+        });
+      });
     });
 
     describe('temporal', () => {