TfL commences consultation on cashless trams

Transport for London (TfL) has begun an eight-week public consultation on plans to make trams in London ‘cashless’. The proposal would see existing cash ticket machines, which only sell a small number of the more expensive paper tickets every week and do not allow customers to top-up their Oyster card, removed from the tram network. As the ticket machines, which were installed when the tram system opened in 2000, have such low usage and have now reached the end of their useful life
September 5, 2017 Read time: 2 mins

1466 Transport for London (TfL) has begun an eight-week public consultation on plans to make trams in London ‘cashless’.
 
The proposal would see existing cash ticket machines, which only sell a small number of the more expensive paper tickets every week and do not allow customers to top-up their Oyster card, removed from the tram network.
 
As the ticket machines, which were installed when the tram system opened in 2000, have such low usage and have now reached the end of their useful life, it is no longer cost effective for TfL to maintain them or have them replaced.
 
TfL therefore proposes to remove the machines and ask any customers who still buy paper tickets to switch to Oyster or contactless. Customers will be able to top up their Oyster cards at Oyster Ticket Stops along the route, at ticket machines at National Rail stations or via the TfL website and forthcoming TfL Ticketing app.
 
Due to the convenience and value for money of payment using Oyster and contactless bank payment cards, only 0.3 per cent of single tram journeys are paid for with a ticket bought from a tram stop ticket machine. This is fewer than 250 tickets per day, with more than half of these sold from 10 tram stops.
 
A paper ticket bought from a ticket machine costs £2.60 whereas the equivalent pay as you go single fare with Oyster or a contactless bank card is £1.50. Customers using pay as you go also have access to the Mayor’s Hopper fare, which gives a second tram or bus journey for free within one hour of touching in on the first tram or bus journey.
 
Subject to the results of the consultation, a final decision on whether to remove the machines will be made early next year.
 
The consultation runs until Sunday 29 October.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • New York expands ticketing via Transit
    March 8, 2021
    Nassau Inter-Country Express says Transit app will help multimodal ridership
    Read More
  • Machine vision - cameras for intelligent traffic management
    January 25, 2012
    For some, machine vision is the coming technology. For others, it’s already here. Although it remains a relative newcomer to the ITS sector, its effects look set to be profound and far-reaching. Encapsulating in just a few short words the distinguishing features of complex technologies and their operating concepts can sometimes be difficult. Often, it is the most subtle of nuances which are both the most important and yet also the most easily lost. Happily, in the case of machine vision this isn’t the case:
    Read More
  • Comprehensive communications combats tolling resistance
    May 19, 2017
    Toll road operator must provide clear, comprehensive and consistent communications to user groups and the local community long before the facility opens. When new tolled highway infrastructure is about to go into service, the construction, management and finance specialists who brought it into being are about ready for a well-deserved celebration. But for the communications and outreach team responsible for building public support for the project – for bringing drivers to the road, and keeping partners and
    Read More
  • First ever pedestrian safety action plan for London
    July 11, 2014
    Transport for London (TfL) has published London’s first Pedestrian Safety Action Plan following consultation in the spring. One of the Mayor and TfL's top priorities is to reduce by 40 per cent the number of people killed or seriously injured on London's roads by 2020 and action is being taken to prioritise the safety of the most vulnerable road users: pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. The plan has been compiled by TfL working alongside key stakeholders, and looks to address the concerns and chall
    Read More

Highlighted Content