Daily and Monday to Sunday fare capping now applies for bus passengers using contactless payments

Bus customers paying for their journeys with a contactless payment card will now benefit from having their fares capped, automatically calculating the best value for their contactless travel over a seven-day period. The added benefit is part of Transport for London’s (TfL) huge range of improvements for customers making it easier and more convenient for them to pay for their travel.

Daily fares for bus journeys are capped at £4.40, the same as they are for Oyster, meaning that after the fourth journey each day, any further bus travel is not charged. A Monday to Sunday cap now also applies for users of contactless payment cards at £20.20, the equivalent of a weekly Bus and Tram Pass.  The development of this technology is the first step towards the next generation of Oyster.   

Contactless payments were launched on London’s buses in December 2012. Since then, over 850,000 customers have used their contactless payment card to pay the single bus fare around 17 million times, currently around 62,000 per day.  Customers using contactless no longer have to check and top up their Oyster credit.

After over 19 months of successful operation, the capping functionality is being added ahead of the expansion of contactless payments to the Tube, trams, DLR and London Overground on 16 September.  After this date, capping for contactless customers will incorporate journeys on all of these services.

TfL and National Rail continue to work together to develop the programme to expand the contactless payments system to the suburban rail routes where Oyster is currently accepted.

Shashi Verma, TfL’s Director of Customer Experience, said: “Contactless payments on our buses have been a resounding success with over 850,000 customers using their contactless payment card to pay for bus journeys. Now we’re adding capping, contactless customers will benefit from having the best value automatically calculated for their travel which will appeal to even more bus users who want the convenience of using contactless to pay for their travel.”

Bus customers using contactless payment cards are now also able to create a TfL online account, or link their contactless payment card to an existing TfL online account that they already use for Oyster, to be able to see their journey and payment history. They will now also see only one charge per day appear on their card issuer statement instead of individual journey charges, as fares are accumulated with the capping applied where appropriate.

TfL continues to remind all customers that it is imperative they only touch one card to the reader to avoid ‘card clash’ or paying with a card they did not intend to use.