Contactless Payment Cards on Tube, trams, DLR and London Overground
15 July 2013
Future Ticketing Project (FTP) - Briefing Notice 02
Using Contactless Payment Cards On TfL Services
Ease and convenience with contactless payment cards
The introduction of contactless payment cards will give customers an alternative way to pay
for travel on Tube, tram, DLR and London Overground services without needing to get an
Oyster card, pay a deposit, top up their Oyster card or queue at a ticket office or ticket
machine to buy a ticket. It has already been successfully introduced on London bus
services.
Using a contactless payment card means there’s no need to carry a specific card for travel
and no deposit is payable. When contactless payments are launched on rail services from
January 2014, customers will be able to touch in and travel using a payment card they may
already have.
How to use a contactless payment card on TfL services
Customers should touch their card flat on the reader at the start of their journey and out
again at the end (touch in only at the start on buses and trams). As with Oyster, not
touching in or out correctly may lead to a maximum fare being charged or even prosecution.
The customers’ experience will be very similar to using Oyster pay as you go, with fares
charged at the same rate. Experience from the launch on buses has been very positive,
with few recorded problems and usage growing steadily. However, there are a few lessons
we have learned from the launch which will be helpful to staff.
Frontline staff should be aware that contactless payment cards can take slightly longer to
read than Oyster cards, but are still significantly faster than magnetic tickets. Whilst the
difference in read time is only just over one hundredth of a second longer than Oyster, there
may be an increase in the frequency of error codes caused by customers taking their card
away too quickly while they adapt. Customers should always be advised to wait for the
green light to show on the reader to confirm that their card has been read successfully.
Experience from the bus launch shows that customers quickly change their behaviour.
Customers need to select which card they want to use to pay for their journey and touch it
on the reader. If they have more than one contactless payment card, (this may include an
Oyster card, building pass etc as well as another contactless payment card) and don’t
separate the one they want to use then:
If the reader detects more than one contactless card at the same time, it won’t know
which card the customer wants to use and neither card will be read. Staff should
reassure customers that money cannot be taken from two cards at the same time
If the reader detects only one contactless card (for example if the cards are held on
different sides of a wallet), the wrong card may be read and a fare could be charged
even if the customer has a season ticket on their Oyster card
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Contactless Payment Cards on Tube, trams, DLR and London Overground
If the reader detects one contactless card when the customer touches in and a
different card when the customer touches out on the same journey, the result will be
two incomplete journeys
There will be a customer education campaign prior to launch highlighting the need to
separate the card intended for use, the success of which will be monitored.
Customers’ details wil be completely secure when they use a contactless payment card on
TfL services. We meet the strict security requirements of card encryption, so we never have
sight of the customers’ card account details.
Benefits of an online account
The customer service model is self service online. Customers should be encouraged to sign
up for a TfL online account and register their contactless payment card. Customers don’t
need to register to use a contactless payment card but if they do they will get email alerts
advising them if an issue has arisen with their card that may lead to it not being approved
for travel. Customers can resolve issues online before they travel.
Because there is no journey history on a contactless payment card customers will only be
able to see their journey history online, although they will be able to see 13 months’
transactions as soon as their account is created.
Just like Oyster, customers who have registered their contactless payment card will be able
to apply for a refund if a maximum fare is charged following an incomplete journey (once a
month).
Cards not approved for travel: keeping customers informed
In a small number of cases (estimated as less than 1%), when a customer touches their
contactless payment card on a reader it may be rejected. This could be because one of the
following reasons:
Reason
Causes
Resolution
The card is currently not
The card issuer is refusing
Advise the customer to sign
approved for travel by the
authorisation for payment
in to their online account to
card issuer
resolve the issue. They may
also need to contact their
card issuer
Note: W hen an issue is
resolved and the card is re-
approved for travel, it can
take up to 30 minutes for all
readers across the network
to be updated. Until then, the
card could be rejected by the
readers. Customers should
be advised to use a different
payment method (such as
an Oyster card, pay cash
fare or another contactless
payment card) if they want to
travel immediately
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Contactless Payment Cards on Tube, trams, DLR and London Overground
Reason
Causes
Resolution
The card is currently not
The card is currently not
Advise the customer to sign
approved for travel by TfL
approved for travel by TfL,
in to their online account to
usually as a result of a series resolve the issue
of failed revenue inspections
or suspicious travel history
(such as regular incomplete
journeys)
The card is from a card
In rare cases, TfL will have
Advise the customer to use
issuer whose Bank
blocked a card issuer,
a different payment method
Identification Number (BIN)
therefore any cards held by
is blocked
their customers won’t be
approved
The card is being used for
For security, some issuers
Advise the customer to
the first time
require the first transaction
contact their card issuer
on the card to be Chip & PIN
before it can be used as a
contactless payment card
The card is damaged
The card is damaged and
Advise the customer to
can’t be read
contact their card issuer
The card takes too long to
Even though they contain
Advise customer to touch
read on the reader
contactless technology,
the card on the reader again.
some older cards may be too If the problem persists they
slow and the time threshold
will need to contact their
will be exceeded on the
card issuer
reader
The card is not accepted by
We will only be accepting
Visual inspection of the card
TfL
contactless payment cards
should highlight whether it is
showing the Visa,
accepted. If it’s not, advise
MasterCard or American
the customer to use a
Express logo (as well as the
different payment method
contactless symbol)
The card has expired
The card is out of date and
Visual inspection of the card
can’t be used
will highlight if it has expired.
If it has, advise the customer
to use a different payment
method and contact their
card issuer if a replacement
card hasn’t been issued
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Contactless Payment Cards on Tube, trams, DLR and London Overground
Reason
Causes
Resolution
The card is being used
Card isn’t yet valid for use
Visual inspection will
before the Valid From date is
highlight if the card is not yet
live
live. If not, advise customer
to use a different payment
method
The card has been touched
Customers can only pay for
Advise the customer that
on a reader within last 15
one person per journey, per
only one person can travel
minutes (passback)
contactless payment card. If
on a contactless payment
the card is passed back after
card and to use a different
being touched on a reader, it
payment method
will be rejected when
Note: Passback errors will
touched for a second time
only occur if the previous
touch on the card reader
was successful
New error codes for rejected contactless payment cards are being introduced. Where an
error is common to both contactless payment cards and Oyster (i.e. multiple cards
presented) the existing code will apply. On buses, some driver and passenger messages
will change when contactless payment cards roll out across the rail network.
If you have any questions or comments about this briefing please email John Allen
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