NFC TIMES Exclusive Insight – Five years ago next month, Transport for London introduced open-loop contactless payments across its transit network, including metro, trams and commuter rail, following an earlier launch on buses. The service now accounts for more than half of all pay-as-you-go journeys and has become a global showcase for the technology.
Meanwhile, transit authorities and operators have been rolling out open-loop contactless payments elsewhere in the UK, but results have been mixed. All of the big-five private bus companies in the UK have enabled their entire fleets to accept contactless credit and debit cards, but no commuter, subway, tram or other rail operator outside of London had rolled out contactless until the launch last month by Transport for Greater Manchester of contactless fare payments on its Metrolink tram.
Aggregated Fare Payments on Trams
The service, which launched in mid-July, goes further than most of the contactless payments so far launched on buses outside of London. It aggregates the fares that riders pay throughout the day, and offers daily fare-capping discounts. This is the same open-loop fare-collection model as Transport for London uses, known as model No. 2, although there are some differences.
