Transport for London (TfL) has celebrated its first successful year of accepting
6.5 million contactless bus journeys in London
contactless payment cards on all of the Capital’s 8,500 buses.
Since it was launched on Thursday 13 December 2012 when 2,061 customers made 2,586 journeys, more than 6.5 million journeys have now been made using an American Express, MasterCard or Visa Europe contactless payment card.
33,000 bus journeys a day
Usage continues to rise strongly and now an average of around 33,000 bus journeys a day are paid for using the debit, credit or charge cards.
Around 1,300 new cards are used each day as more customers benefit from the ease and convenience of using the card they already have in their pocket if they do not have an Oyster card or have run out of credit, and pay the cheaper PAYG fare rather than using cash.
Contactless payment was launched on buses first to raise awareness and instigate a smooth transition into the wider roll out.
Acceptance on London Underground, London Overground, DLR and trams will launch next year when London will become the first city in the world to fully integrate contactless payment cards into the fare system.
“It is fantastic that so many people are taking advantage of the ease and convenience of using their contactless payment cards to pay their bus fares,” comments Shashi Verma, TfL’s Director of Customer Experience.
“Each week we are setting a new record for usage which gives us great confidence for when we launch on the rest of the network and make contactless fully integrated next year.”
Customer education is prudent when introducing such a new ticketing system and TfL continues to remind customers about presenting their Oyster or contactless payment cards separately to the yellow card readers to ensure the right card is charged for the journey.
Key milestones:
- Launched 13 December 2012 – 2,061 customers made 2,586 journeys
- 10 April 2013 – 1 millionth journey made using contactless payment card
- 10 June 2013 – 2 millionth journey
- 30 July 2013 – 3 millionth journey
- 14 September 2013 – 4 millionth journey
- 21 October 2013 – 5 millionth journey
23 November 2013 – 6 millionth journey
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