CPAY
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CPAY is the codename of the contactless payment system operated by Transport for London in and around London.[1] It does not have a public facing brand name and is simply known as pay as you go by contactless by the public.[2] The model has been copied around the world.[3]
History
[edit]In 2014, Transport for London became the first public transport provider in the world to accept payment from contactless bank cards.[4] TfL first started accepting contactless debit and credit cards on London Buses on 13 December 2012,[5] expanding to the Underground, Tram and the Docklands Light Railway in September 2014.[6] Since 2016, contactless payment can also take place using contactless-enabled mobile devices such as phones and smartwatches, using Apple Pay,[7] Google Pay and Samsung Pay.[8]
TfL designed and coded the contactless payment system in-house, at a cost of £11 million, after realising existing commercial solutions were inflexible or too focused on retail use.[4] Since the launch of contactless payment in 2012, over 500 million journeys have been made, using over 12 million contactless bank cards.[9] Consequently, TfL is now one of Europe's largest contactless merchants, with around 1 in 10 contactless transactions in the UK taking place on the TfL network.[9]
In 2016, TfL licensed their contactless payment system to Cubic, the original developers of the Oyster card, allowing the technology to be sold to other transport providers worldwide.[9] In 2017, licensing deals were signed with New York City,[10] New South Wales[11] and Boston.[12]
The same requirement to touch in and out on underground services applies to contactless cards. The same price capping that applies to the use of Oyster cards applies to the use of contactless cards (provided the same card is used for the day's journeys). The fare paid every day is settled with the bank and appears on the debit or credit card statement. Detailed usage data is written to Transport for London's systems and is available for customers who register their contactless cards with Transport for London. Unlike an Oyster card, a contactless card does not store credit (beyond the holder's credit limit) and there is no need or facility to add credit to the card.
In August 2019 Brookmans Park railway station was the first contactless-only addition to the pay as you go area.[13] All subsequent additions located beyond fare zones 1-9 have followed suit.
Features
[edit]Although the use of a contactless payment card for travel is exactly the same as an Oyster card, as a contactless card cannot be written into, they work differently in the background.
An Oyster card stores the balance in the card itself, and records all the touches made in the card. It can also store discounts and season tickets as well. None of the above is possible with a contactless payment card, therefore all the fare calculations are done in batch on the back end, after all the touches in a day are aggregated from the readers.
Daily and weekly capping
[edit]Like an Oyster card, contactless cards offer daily capping. However, the capping on Oyster cards are done in real-time, with the zones used stored inside the card, which is not possible on contactless. As the fares are calculated in batch by the back end for contactless cards, cheaper non-zonal caps may be available on contactless cards for certain stations.
In addition, due to how Oyster system works, if you start from zone 6 for one journey into zone 1, then stay within zone 1 all day, the Oyster system will charge you up to the zones 1-6 cap, but on contactless, if the zones 1-2 cap plus the single extension from zone 6 is cheaper, it will charge that instead since the back end looks for the whole day of the journey history and charges as a batch.[14]
Contactless cards also offer weekly capping as well, which was not available initially on Oyster due to the real-time nature and the information stored on the card.
Since 27 September 2021, the back end processing used for contactless payments has also been applied on adult-rate Oyster cards, which enables weekly capping for these cards as well. Any overcharging compared to a contactless payment card, like the scenarios described above, will be refunded automatically to the Oyster card.[15]
Unpaid fares
[edit]As the amount to be charged isn't known after travelling, at first use of a card, a pre-authorisation of £0.10 is requested on the card to check if it is valid. If the actual fare requested after the day is declined, the card is temporarily blocked for use until the unpaid fare is paid.[16]
Use
[edit]
The use of a contactless payment card by travellers is exactly the same as with an Oyster card. However, unlike an Oyster card, a contactless payment card can only be used for paying as you go at the adult rate. Season tickets and discounts cannot be associated with a contactless payment card.
Coverage
[edit]Existing
[edit]CPAY (contactless pay as you go) is available everywhere an Oyster card is accepted. In addition, it is also available at the following National Rail stations, where Oyster card is not accepted:
As the Oyster card supports a maximum of 15 zones[21] the stations above are listed as zone 16 in the fares data, indicating they are outside the Oyster area.[22] CPAY journeys from those stations are only capped for travel to Zones 1-6, 1-8 or 1-9.[23]
The contactless payment system is also used to collect fares for journeys on the Luton DART, which can be reviewed on the TfL contactless portal but are not integrated with other journeys for fares purposes.[24]
Future
[edit]Expansion of the CPAY area is currently being undertaken through a scheme named Project Oval. As of March 2026, 103 stations have been added through this scheme and the next tranche of stations (including 23 operated by Southeastern) is scheduled to go live later in 2026.[25]
Usage statistics
[edit]Since the launch of contactless payment in 2012 on buses, and in 2014 on rail, the usage has been steadily increasing apart during the period of COVID-19 pandemic. By October 2022, contactless payment is now used for 71% of tube, rail and bus journeys in London. Further analysis between July and August 2022 showed that 35% of contactless journeys were made using mobile devices, up from 26% before the pandemic.[26]
References
[edit]- ↑ CPAY Agreement, Transport for London
- ↑ "Editorial style guide". Transport for London.
- ↑ Hart, Alula (2026-01-09). "Has the Oyster card tapped out? TfL has £283m on dormant cards". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 2026-01-09.
- 1 2 "London's contactless fares system to power New York's subway, bus and rail journeys". MayorWatch. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- ↑ "New option to pay for travel as TfL introduces contactless payments on London's buses" (Press release). Transport for London. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- ↑ "Contactless payment on London Underground" (Press release). Transport for London. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- ↑ "TfL to accept Apple Pay on public transport". Transport for London. 8 June 2015. Archived from the original on 9 June 2015. Retrieved 13 June 2015.
- ↑ "Android Pay accepted for pay as you go travel in London" (Press release). Transport for London. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- 1 2 3 "Licencing London's contactless ticketing system" (Press release). Transport for London. 13 July 2016. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017.
- ↑ Barron, James (23 October 2017). "New York to Replace MetroCard With Modern Way to Pay Transit Fares". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- ↑ UK, DVV Media. "Sydney to use London-style open payment technology". Metro Report. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- ↑ Vaccaro, Adam (2017-11-19). "The MBTA has a $723 million plan to change the way you pay for rides". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
- ↑ Kelly, Paul. "Oysterless Contactless…". BR Fares Blog. Retrieved 17 June 2026.
- ↑ "Contactless Fares Can Be Cheaper Than Oyster". Londonist. July 2016.
- ↑ "TfL Press Release - Weekly capping on Oyster for Tube and rail passengers to launch on Monday 27 September".
- ↑ "Why doesn't my contactless card work?". Transport for London.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Department for Transport (20 January 2025). "Simpler train travel for the South East as contactless ticketing rolls out at 47 more stations". gov.uk. Retrieved 2 February 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 "Simpler train travel to London airports as tap-in, tap-out expanded across south-east England". GOV.UK. 17 November 2025. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "Greater Anglia passengers to benefit as contactless ticketing extended from 8 March". Greater Anglia. 2026-02-23. Retrieved 2026-03-01.
- 1 2 3 4 5 by (2024-06-11). "TfL-style contactless payments expanding on Chiltern Railways: More stations go live this month". ianVisits. Retrieved 2024-07-13.
- ↑ TRU112, page 11, Transport for London
- ↑ FOI-1501-1920, Freedom of Information Request, Transport for London
- ↑ "Pay As You Go with Contactless Caps | Beyond London Zones 1-9". National Rail. Rail Delivery Group. Retrieved 17 June 2026.
- ↑ "FAQs | Luton DART". How do I get a receipt for contactless tickets purchased at the DART station?.
- ↑ "Case study | GBR: improvements train operators in public ownership are making for customers | Southeastern". GOV.UK. Department for Transport. Retrieved 17 June 2026.
- ↑ "New analysis shows that pay as you go with mobile on the Tube now more popular than before the pandemic". Transport for London.