A further 47 rail stations in South East England are set to introduce tap-in, tap-out technology next month – around 18 months late after technical problems were encountered during testing.
The Rail Delivery Group (RDG) said the upgrade will allow customers to choose between pre-booking or tapping their contactless cards or devices to pay for their journey, as well as 'seamlessly' switching between trains, Tube, London Buses and trams whilst paying the best adult fare.
Those using pay as you go with contactless will also benefit from daily and Monday to Sunday capping when travelling into and within London.
The rollout to 47 stations will complete the first phase of a programme being delivered by Transport for London on behalf of the Government covering a total of 233 stations.
As Transport Network has reported, the first 53 stations were due to have been done by the end of the 2022-23 financial year, with a revised date of December 2023, and the remaining 180 stations upgraded by the end of this year.
An RDG spokesperson told Transport Network: ‘Customers have told us they want fares that reflect their needs and are simple to use. The way our customers buy tickets is changing, and the expansion of pay as you go with contactless is a step in the right direction providing convenience, simplicity and flexibility.
‘While completing rigorous testing, some issues were encountered which meant it would not have worked as intended for customers. Pay as you go with contactless on six stations operated by Chiltern went live on 30 June 2024 and a further expansion to 47 further stations across the South East will go live on 22 September 2024 now these issues have been resolved.
The RDG did not clarify when the whole programme is now expected to be delivered. The spokesperson said: ‘We remain committed to further expanding pay as you with contactless to additional stations, and further announcements about this will be made in due course.’
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