Contactless payments introduced on London’s travel network
16/09/2014
Contactless payments will be introduced on London’s tube, tram, DLR, overground and most National Rail services in London from today.
Contactless payments work in the same way as Oyster, charging customers an adult-rate, pay as you go fare when they touch in and out on readers at the start and end of every journey. Rather than topping up their Oyster Card regularly, travellers will now be able to hold their contactless payment card to the card readers.
Payments will be subjected to a “daily capping” and travellers taking multiple journeys will not have to pay more than the cost of a day travel card. Transport for London have now also introduced Monday to Sunday capping, which is calculated by analysing the daily totals as the week progresses and applying a cap when the cost is more than the weekly cap.
All UK issued contactless American Express, MasterCard or Visa credit, debit, pre-paid cards will be accepted for contactless payments. Some none UK cards will be accepted, but cardholders have been advised to check with their issuers first.
Shashi Verma, TfL's director of customer experience, said:
'With the launch of contactless, customers can look forward to having an easier and more convenient way to pay for their travel, freeing them of the need to top up Oyster credit and helping them to get on board without delay. I would like to remind all of our customers to only touch one card on the reader to avoid paying with a card they did not intend to pay with. Contactless payments on our buses have already been a resounding success with over one million customers using their contactless payment card to pay their bus fare around 20 million times.'
This could be the beginning of contactless payments for travel becoming the norm throughout the rest of England. Many bus services throughout the country now accept contactless payments, as well as some tram services outside of London.
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