The Anonymous Widower

Transport for London Is The Fastest Growing Contactless Merchant In The UK

The title of this post is the title of an article in Computer Weekly, which describes the enormous take-up of using contactless cards for payment on London’s transport system. This is the first two paragraphs.

Transport for London (TfL) has become the fastest growing contactless Visa merchant in Europe, and the fastest growing Mastercard and American Express merchant in the UK, a mere six months after it first launched contactless payments in September 2014.

TfL claimed 60 million contactless journeys had now been made on its system since September 2014, 20 million of those since mid-February 2015, and 14% of all journeys made on the system were now contactless.

Perhaps, the most surprising thing, is why so few other transport operators in the UK, Europe and the wider world, have disclosed plans to go to a similar system.

Perhaps, what is most remarkable about London’s contactless payments system, is that there seem to have been no adverse media reports on the system, whereas before it started various political parties were saying it would be a disaster of Titanic proportions.

It probably says more about the average politician’s knowledge of technology, than anything else.

I believe that any city or region that doesn’t sign up for contactless ticketing will see a reduction in visitors and economic activity.

If you take Scotland as an example of a region, where several antique ticketing systems are still in existence, the total population is less than that of Greater London. So if it can be implemented in London, surely an appropriate system can be used in Scotland.

March 18, 2015 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Contactless Ticketing, London, Ticketing