One-in-five journeys on London transport network are now contactless

Over 180 million journeys have been made using contactless payments on London's transport network in the first year since its launch, accounting for one-in-seven of all such transactions in the UK.

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One-in-five journeys on London transport network are now contactless

Editorial

This content has been selected, created and edited by the Finextra editorial team based upon its relevance and interest to our community.

Contactless payments can be used on London Underground, tram, DLR, London Overground, buses, TfL Rail, the Emirates Air Line and most National Rail services in London. Payments using the technology now account for a fifth of all pay as you go journeys.

The success of contactless on the transit network has had a knock-on effect to the use of the technology on the high street, with more than £2.5 billion spent via tap and go in the first half of 2015.

Graham Peacop, chief executive of The UK Cards Association, says: "Contactless payments in the UK have soared over the past 12 months, with spending in the first half of this year more than the whole of 2014 combined. We find that once people see how fast, easy and secure contactless is for travel, they then go on to use it in other places such as when shopping or eating out."

Tami Hargreaves, head of contactless, Barclaycard, agrees: "Barclaycard data shows a 33% increase in the use of contactless for eligible transactions over the last year and this sharp rise is largely accounted for by the increase in popularity of contactless payments on London's trains and buses."

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Comments: (3)

A Finextra member 

Is the headline correct? There were 2.4 billion bus journeys and 1.26 billion passenger journeys in 2013/14 (according to TfL's Annual Report). I am not sure that 180 million Contactless journeys in a year would then equate to "one-in-five journeys on London transport network [being] contactless", although I am happy to be corrected.

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

Curious to know how people pay for the remaining 4 out of 5 TfL journeys. Isn't OysterCard considered contactless?

A Finextra member 

Irrespective of ratio to trips, 180 million contacless transactions is great progress.  Well done!

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