Contactless payments treble
06/02/2015
The number of UK debit card holders using contactless technology to make payments has more than tripled in a year, according to data from the UK card association.
During 2014, people using contactless technology spent a total of £2.32 billion via contactless payments. This is compared to £653 million spent in 2013.
One of the most popular places to use contactless technology was the London transport network. It introduced contactless payments in September last year. The technology allows payments of up to £20 by touching the card on a reader. Out of the 391 million occasions contactless technology was used in 2014, 41 million of those have been on a London bus or tube. London commuters were responsible for almost one in ten of all UK contactless payments made in December 2014.
Overall, the technology seems to be most popular in London, where 30% of all payments below £20 were made via contactless payments. In Leeds, 27% of transactions were contactless, and in Cambridge the figure was 15%.
Manchester is one of the UKs main transport systems, which is hoping to introduce contactless payments in the near future.
Richard Koch, head of policy at the UK Cards Association, said:
"Contactless has now firmly stepped into the mainstream,
"With usage soaring every month last year, we've seen people flocking to contactless payments as they switch away from cash."
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