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.

UTC

Related Content

  • May 9, 2019
    Switching Atlanta onto MaaS
    It’s easy to talk about MaaS in the abstract – but MaaS isn’t going to work if it’s just a theory. Colin Sowman speaks to one woman about the practical benefits - and difficulties - of getting out of her car and switching to public transit in Atlanta, Georgia One of the first goals of Mobility as a Service (MaaS) inventor Sampo Hietanen is that MaaS should persuade households they don’t need a second car. This is starting to happen - even in the car-dominated US. Last year, authorities in the state of Ge
    Read More
  • November 16, 2020
    Conduent pilot of new payment system on Adelaide trams
    Conduent Transportation has installed a new contactless open payment system on the Adelaide tram system overseen by the South Australian Public Transport Authority (SAPTA). This six-month pilot programme started on 20 September. Adelaide travellers can now use their Visa, MasterCard and NFC-enabled smart devices to pay for their fares on the 24 trams throughout the city. Adelaide is the fifth largest city in Australia, with a population of approximately 1.4 million.
    Read More
  • March 6, 2023
    Sampo Hietanen on MaaS: “We needed better dreams”
    Sampo Hietanen, founder of MaaS Global, is one of the authors of the Mobility as a Service concept: the dream is still real, but MaaS needs to evolve, he insists
    Read More
  • December 5, 2018
    IBTTA summit hits right notes in Salzburg
    In the birthplace of Mozart, Colin Sowman found that delegates at the IBTTA’s inaugural World Tolling Summit were playing a variety of interesting tunes The first World Tolling Summit took place in Salzburg, Austria this autumn. Created and organised by the International Bridge Tolling and Turnpike Association (IBTTA), the event was supported by its European counterpart Asecap and hosted by Austria’s tolling authority, Asfinag. The transfer of views, experience and practice both ways across the Atl
    Read More

Highlighted Content