One billion journeys made by contactless payment on London’s transport network

London’s transport network has now seen more than one billion pay as you go journeys made by contactless payment cards.

The figures, published by Transport for London (TfL), show that, on average, two million journeys are now made using contactless every day. In total, 40% of all pay as you go journeys are now made using contactless. This is up from 25% in early 2016.

Of these, almost one in 10 contactless transactions are now made using mobile devices, with more than 31 million journeys made specifically using mobile phones in London in the last 12 months.

TfL’s contactless payment system was first launched on London’s buses in December 2012 and expanded to cover Tube and rail services in London in September 2014.  The system automatically calculates the best value fare based on the customer’s specific journey history and then charges them at the end of the day.

In the future, contactless will also be expanded to cover the Elizabeth line, which will see services running from Reading and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east by December 2019.

Last year, TfL signed a deal worth up to £15m with Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS) allowing them to adapt the Capital’s contactless ticketing system worldwide. Since then, CTS has progressed discussions with a number of world cities, including Sydney and Miami, to introduce contactless ticketing technology to their transport networks in the future.

Customers from more than 100 countries have now used contactless payment cards and mobile devices to make journeys on the Capital’s public transport network, with more than 20 new countries, including Estonia, Morocco and Peru, having been seen for the first time in the last year.

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, said: “London continues to lead the way in terms of contactless payment around the world, and the money we make selling TfL’s innovation and expertise to other major global cities will allow us to put further money into improving London’s own transport network.”