28.07.14
Lack of contactless payment on National Rail in London ‘will cause confusion’
London’s passenger watchdog says the inconsistent rolling-out of contactless payment – which is being extended to the Tube, DLR and Overground, but not yet to National Rail services in London that participate in Oyster Pay As You Go – is a “recipe for confusion”.
‘Wave and pay’ for contactless bank cards have been in places on London’s buses, but it has taken much longer than expected to roll it out to the railways in the capital’s transport system.
The new payment system caps daily and weekly fares in the same way as Oyster does, charging people only at the end of the day up to a limit equal to the cost of a travelcard.
Transport for London says it is working with Network Rail and the operators to get the system in place across National Rail services “as soon as possible”, but London TravelWatch says this is not good enough,.
Its chief executive, Janet Cooke, said: “The decision to implement contactless payment on only part of London’s rail network is a recipe for confusion amongst passengers. Experience from when Oyster Pay As You Go (PAYG) was only partially implemented on the transport network in London showed this, with many thousands of passengers being subject to penalty fares, because they did not understand when or where Oyster PAYG was valid.
“It is also not fair that some passengers will benefit from being able to use contactless payments whilst others won’t.”
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