Cashless fares only on buses starts in Summer

Following the consultation last year, the Mayor has decided to go ahead with a cashless fare system on London’s buses from summer this year. More than 37,500 responded to our consultation. The responses have helped us ensure there are a range of measures for the smooth transition to the new arrangements including:

• a new ‘one more journey’ feature on Oyster that will allow passengers with less than the single bus fare but who have a positive balance on their card to make one more bus journey
• a review of the Oyster Ticket Stop network to see if additional locations can be identified, particularly in outer London
• refreshed guidance for all 24,500 London bus drivers to ensure a consistent approach is taken when dealing with vulnerable passengers
• a public information campaign to increase awareness of the benefits of contactless payment cards and Oyster pay as you go.

99 per cent of bus passengers already pay for their journeys using Oyster, prepaid tickets, contactless payment cards or concessionary tickets. The latter group represents a third of passengers and includes children and young people, older and disabled people and the unemployed. Paying with Oyster or a contactless payment card is not only the cheapest option but also speeds up boarding times at bus stops and reduces delays for all bus users. Our research shows this change is also unlikely to affect tourists as the vast majority use a prepaid ticket, such as Oyster, to get around the capital.

A summary of the consultation and TfL’s response can be found at https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/buses/cashless