Tube travellers get first taste of paying by contactless card

 
Phased out: Oyster Cards
Barry Phillips/Evening Srandard
28 November 2013

The shift to “contactless” payment to start on the London Underground next month will help deliver an annual £80 million saving on fare collection, transport chiefs claimed today.

Announcing further details of the scheme, Transport for London said it would herald a “paradigm shift” in fare payment for public transport around the world. Five thousand Londoners will become the first commuters on the Tube to use the contactless system in a two-month pilot.

Already accepted on buses, it will then be fully introduced on the Tube, DLR and London Overground in early summer 2014. It will also operate on National Rail within zone six where Oyster is currently accepted.

By using debit or credit cards, fares are charged directly to passengers’ account, bypassing the Oyster smartcard system. It will be more convenient than topping up at a ticket hall or newsagents, which is done by the majority of the nine million Oyster card users.

TfL calculates that the scheme will help cut the cost of fare collection from 9p to 7p for every pound spent on travel within five years as part of moves to make ticketing fully automated.

Last week TfL announced 950 job cuts as they create virtual ticket offices with staff using tablet computers.

Given concerns over contactless security, passengers will be advised to keep bank and Oyster cards separate, although TfL says it is impossible for both to be charged for the same journey.

Shashi Verma, TfL director of customer experience, said: “It is the first time this has been done anywhere in the world and will be a paradigm shift for micropayments. We have nine million Oyster users now of whom there are about 5.5 million adults paying a pay-as-you-go fare. They will all be able to use contactless payments and will save time as payments will never be refused as long as funds are there.

“An account can only be charged if that card is presented for payment. Concerns about cloning a card are unfounded. If a card is presented by accident we will refund the fare. If it’s been used fraudulently such as lost or stolen then the banking industry will give a cast-iron guarantee customers can reclaim that money.”

Some 15,000 card readers at stations have had a software upgrade to accept contactless. TfL ticket inspectors will also be armed with more sophisticated handheld readers linked to their database. Much of the back-office operation is contracted to Redhill-based firm Cubic with TfL’s £100 million-a-year electronic payments system up for grabs in 2015.

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