The UK’s Transport for London (TFL) has announced that the use of contactless credit, debit or charge cards will be available on the tube, Docklands Light Railway (DLR), trams and London Overground rail services by early 2014.
The payment cards will be used in the same way as the current Oyster card system, where users hold their Oyster card up to a card reader and the fare cost is subtracted from the card’s pre-paid credit. However, with a contactless payment card the amount will be debited or credited directly from the users account – no pre-paid credit is required.
The system has been in use on London’s buses since December 2012, and TFL reported 2.5 million contactless transactions worth £3.5m used within 6 months of its launch.
Source: Transport for London
