London transport to get contactless payment

Millions of customers are set for easier and more convenient journeys from 16 September, when Transport for London (TfL) will introduce contactless payments for all pay as you go customers on the Tube, London Overground, DLR and trams in addition to the capital's buses. The new option means that passengers will no longer be any need to top up Oyster card balances because fares are charged directly to payment card accounts. Contactless payments - credit, debit, charge or pre-paid cards or devices - work i
July 28, 2014 Read time: 2 mins

Millions of customers are set for easier and more convenient journeys from 16 September, when 1466 Transport for London (TfL) will introduce contactless payments for all pay as you go customers on the Tube, London Overground, 6782 DLR and trams in addition to the capital's buses.

The new option means that passengers will no longer be any need to top up Oyster card balances because fares are charged directly to payment card accounts. Contactless payments - credit, debit, charge or pre-paid cards or devices - work in the same way as Oyster, charging the pay as you go fare by touching in and out on the readers at the start and end of every journey.

In addition to daily capping, a new Monday to Sunday cap will also apply for customers using the contactless payment option, as TfL's advanced system will automatically calculate the best value contactless fare over the course of the week.

Contactless payments have operated on the capital's bus network since December 2012, and have been used by around 825,000 customers for 17 million journeys.

Around 65,000 journeys a day are being made using a contactless payment card. A pilot of the system on the London Underground and rail network which began in April involving around 3,000 customers has been successful. 

Customer feedback has been used to improve the service, including making the online accounts easier to use. Ahead of the launch on 16 September, TfL is continuing to remind customers that it is imperative that they only touch one card to the reader to avoid 'card clash'.

This simple measure will ensure customers avoid paying with a card they did not intend to use. It will also avoid gates not opening or not giving a green light to proceed. An extensive customer campaign has been running since February to reduce the incidents of card clash and this will be enhanced further ahead of the September launch.

TfL and National Rail will continue to work together to develop the programme to expand the system to the suburban rail routes where Oyster is currently accepted.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • T-Charge introduced to older vehicles in London to tackle toxic air pollution
    October 23, 2017
    To combat thousands of premature deaths caused by air pollution in London, up to 34, 000 polluting vehicles travelling into Central London every month may have to pay the T-Charge £10.00 ($13.00) which will operate on top of the Congestion Charge £11.50 ($15.00). Launched by the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, the T -Charge applies to drivers of pre-Euro 4 vehicles that do not meet the PM and NOx emissions and has come into effect from 7.00am on 23 October 2017.
    Read More
  • Success of Transport for London’s real time bus information service
    October 18, 2012
    Since its launch a year ago, the UK’s Transport for London (TfL) Countdown real time bus information service has dealt with more than 620 million requests and, according to TfL, the service has made millions of journeys easier, dealing with an average of 1.6 million requests via the internet and smart phones and 36,000 requests via text each day. TfL has also recently completed the installation of 2,500 new and improved bus information roadside signs across the capital. These provide clearer amber text on
    Read More
  • Conduent goes with the flow in Venice
    December 28, 2022
    Firm works with Elavon and Visa to provide payments for Azienda Veneziana della Mobilità
    Read More
  • MaaS by any other name
    February 6, 2020
    Has the roll-out of Mobility as a Service stalled - or could it just be that multimodal travel is simply happening under a variety of different names?
    Read More

Highlighted Content