Transport for London will begin a pilot scheme for 5,000 passengers
before Christmas before opening it to the fare-paying public next year.
The
pilot will involve customers, staff and other groups testing cards
before the method is available across London Overground, DLR, Tube and
trams.
Under the “contactless” travel system, passengers swipe
their bank card across the reader at stations and cash is deducted
directly from their account.
The method, which is already used on
London buses, means TfL customers avoid having to convert cash into an
Oyster “token” before they can pay and saves on administration costs.
In
December last year TfL introduced wave and pay on buses — and more than
four million bus journeys in London have now been paid for using a
contactless debit, credit or charge card. But the average number of
passengers doing this per bus per day is less than three.
It cost £4.4 million to install contactless readers on London’s 8,500 buses.
TfL
has an incentive for people to use the method as it keeps more revenue
than through Oyster. But the banks also need a major adopter for
contactless payment use to take off.
The system is not new
technology and many UK retailers have been trialling it for at least
five years — but consumers have been reluctant to adopt it.
Boris
Johnson said in May he wants to “move away” from Oyster to wave and pay
because he did not want to run “payment systems” in the long term. But
TfL later insisted there were no plans to decommission Oyster.
It
is thought that Oyster will remain for some time, not least because wave
and pay is not an option for those without bank accounts.
The
scheme’s introduction has been delayed by a year as transport chiefs
said they did not want to risk teething troubles in the run-up to the
Olympics. The technological challenge of installing it on the Tube —
working with banks and Redhill-based TfL contractor Cubic — is much
greater than on the buses.
Caroline Pidgeon, leader of the Lib-Dem
London Assembly Group, said: “It is time the Mayor gave some clear
answers on how wave and pay technology will finally be rolled out across
the Tube, DLR, trams and Overground.
“He needs to clarify his long-term vision for Oyster and ensure its fares always stay the cheapest available.”
TfL’s
director of customer experience Shashi Verma said: “Ahead of the
introduction of contactless payment card acceptance on the Tube, London
Overground, trams and DLR next year we’ll conduct a controlled pilot
involving staff, stakeholders and other interested groups. We are
finalising the plans and more details will be available soon.”
SEE ALSO THE LATEST ON THE FOCUS FLICKR SITE
Sunday the 27th of October saw the Nocturnal Heart of the Pennines Bus Rally. This was centred on the Piece Hall in Halifax town centre. Buses were lined up on the cobbles and during the day Roger Kaye captured some of the atmosphere, especially later on as dusk turned to night and the vehicles were illuminated both inside and out. Here a couple of local buses from West Riding stand side by side, the damp conditions adding a fine atmosphere to the conditions.
During the day several of the buses made their way out into the surrounding countryside. Here one of them Leeds City Transport number 916 an AEC Regent complete with a full complement of passengers trundled its way up into the hills.
More of the rally can be viewed here
SEE ALSO THE LATEST ON THE FOCUS FLICKR SITE
Sunday the 27th of October saw the Nocturnal Heart of the Pennines Bus Rally. This was centred on the Piece Hall in Halifax town centre. Buses were lined up on the cobbles and during the day Roger Kaye captured some of the atmosphere, especially later on as dusk turned to night and the vehicles were illuminated both inside and out. Here a couple of local buses from West Riding stand side by side, the damp conditions adding a fine atmosphere to the conditions.
During the day several of the buses made their way out into the surrounding countryside. Here one of them Leeds City Transport number 916 an AEC Regent complete with a full complement of passengers trundled its way up into the hills.
More of the rally can be viewed here