As promised, Transport for London (TfL) today introduced contactless payments to the London Underground, Overground, trams and Docklands Light Railway (DLR).
Rather than using an Oyster card, travel card or an old fashioned paper ticket, travelers will now be able to ‘tap-in’ with supported credit, debit and pre-paid cards, as well as relevant smartphone apps and wearables.
Contactless payments have arrived! Between start of service & 8am there were 2,074 taps on the readers & 1,605 contactless cards used
— Transport for London (@TfLOfficial) September 16, 2014
The advantage is that, unlike an Oyster card, people won’t need to continuously top-up. Contactless payment methods are tied to your bank account, so you can keep swiping and not have to worry about hitting zero. Transport for London will also analyse your journeys throughout the day and subtract the appropriate amount in a single payment. Similar to the Oyster system, a daily and weekly fare cap will offer some reductions and limit the amount you have to spend.
TfL introduced contactless payments to the bus network in December 2012.
Thumbnail image credit: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.