The partnership is another milestone in MasterCard's strategy to raise awareness of MasterCard® PayPass™ contactless payments in transport systems, as cities such as London move towards enabling contactless 'open loop' payments on their trains, tubes and buses. This would allow commuters to 'Tap & Go™' and pay travel fares directly at the ticketing gate with the same credit, debit or prepaid card they use to make everyday purchases.

Hany Fam, President of the UK & Ireland Division at MasterCard, said:

"Oyster has been a huge success, providing millions of consumers every day with a convenient way of accessing London's transport system. But we believe that MasterCard PayPass can offer even more. Frustrations such as missing a train because you have to queue up to buy a ticket, or waiting for a bus only to find that you don't have enough value to travel, could be a thing of the past.

"We will be distributing six million wallets in the capital next year, with travellers in London tapping their Oyster cards over 13 million times a day[1]."

The partnership, negotiated by UM London with a campaign planned by CBS Outdoor and IPM, will also see MasterCard brand London Underground ticket barriers to support its key initiatives and sponsorship properties over the coming year, including the UEFA Champions League Final in May 2011.

MasterCard PayPass Transit Credentials:

With established deployments as early as 2005, MasterCard is providing PayPass contactless payment solutions for urban transportation centres around the world, across the US, Asia (including Singapore, Taiwan, Korea) and Europe (including the UK, Italy, France, Turkey, Poland, and Russia).