Buses go cashless

[Nortube]

Announcements are now being made on buses:

Buses go cashless on 6 July:
www.tfl.gov.uk/modes/buses/cash-free-buses?intcmp=17374

[ Click here ]

So if you lose your wallet, you have four options:

1 Buy a new Oyster card - £5(?) deposit + minimum top-up (£5?)

2 Buy a one day paper travel card, only available from a booking office or machine. Minimum cost £8.90

3  Phone somebody and try and get them to pick you up

4 Walk
For many people, 4 may well be the only option if they don't have around £10 in loose change on them or, more likely, they're not near anywhere they can buy a Oyster or travel card, especially at night.

Another customer service initiative by TfL

[railtechnician]

Passengers should vote with their feet, L I T E R A L L Y !!!

There can be no complaints, it is simply another in a chain of progress as a result of passenger laziness over recent decades.

i.e.
Not having change and tendering large notes for small fares.
Not having the correct change when required on flat fare buses
Not folding pushchairs before boarding
Failing to buy a ticket before boarding
Fare dodging


I have no sympathy whatsoever for lazy passengers. General discipline in society has disappeared over the last 40 years and nowhere is it more noticeable than on public transport!

[class345]

If you follow TfL advise and have your Oyster card separate to your contactless payment card there shouldn't be a problem if your wallet gets stolen

Although I think most people who do follow this advise simply take their Oyster out of their wallet when at the barriers. Personally, I have an assortment of staff passes, oyster card, railcards etc so find it easier to keep them in a separate holder.

[deansullivan]

On bus cash transactions are now less than 1% in London (and apparently since the Cashless bus announcements its dropped still further to 0.7%). On cross border services like our 298 is around 2%. So in essence cashless bus is only likely to affect a very small minority of passengers.
Dean

[O530C2]

Hello,

I think that this measure is a very good thing because sell tickets on board is only a waste of time, because usually customers don't have change, or they didn't know the fares... Cashless buses is a great thing in London I think !
Also, the part of onboard sells is a few with 2% maximum... But this measure can not be set on every public transport network, in Saint-Malo, this onboard selling represents 88% of the tickets sold : this is too much, and the authorities would not do anything before... a decade minimum...
And for customers who forget they Oyster card, they just have to be less careless...

O530C2

[class345]

When I was in Krakow, Poland their tram and bus services are totally cashless, you buy your ticket from a machine at the stop and get it "punched" by machines at each doorway. Works very well, although we did get shouted at in Polish for trying to stay on the tram for the shunt at the end of the line...

[Nortube]

At least that meant you could still buy a ticket easily (didn't they do that in central London on some buses?). Obviously, given the size of London, you can't have a ticket machine at every bus stop.