Tag: contactless

• Hendy: Our PAYG upgrade is long overdue

  There’s more good news, bad news on the rail ticketing front with Greater Anglia adding contactless technology to the 20 stations that were due to get it at the end of last year but which were put back to the summer.

  But, although the delay isn’t as bad as it was predicted to be, the whole programme to spread Transport for London’s (TfL) pay as you go (PAYG) beyond London is still years behind and less than halfway complete.

  

  Out of 233 stations that should have had the technology by the end of 2024, only 103 have now been delivered by TfL.

  Rather embarrassingly for rail minister Lord Hendy (who used to head TfL), he keeps saying the same thing about the upgrade being long overdue, even as he tries to sing its praises.

  In November, it was announced that 50 stations would go live the following month – the first tranche of a second phase. Hendy said:

  Rail ticketing is far too complicated and long overdue an upgrade to bring it into the 21st century.

  In December, it was announced that only 30 stations had been delivered:

  PAYG contactless will be rolled out to a further 20 stations, including Stansted and Southend airports, on Greater Anglia route during Summer 2026 after issues were identified in testing.  

  These are the 20 stations that have now had the technology implemented. Hendy said:

  Rail ticketing is long overdue an upgrade to bring the rail network into the 21st century.

  He is surprisingly frank on this: the upgrade is long overdue and, as I reported in November, there is no target date for adding the remaining 130 stations.

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  2026.03.19

• As you were

  It’s a sign of how desperate the government is for good news that today the Department for Transport (DfT) has issued a press release in which the prime minister claims that not putting up rail fares “will put more money in working people’s pockets”.

  It is indeed good news that fares have not gone up at the beginning of this month and if the DfT says this is the first freeze for 30 years, I am happy to believe them, although they seem to be happier pointing to increases under the Tories than last year’s increase.

  

  Here’s what Keir Starmer is claimed to have said:

  This freeze – the first since the 90s – will put more money in working people’s pockets. By keeping costs down we are making journeys more affordable for millions of people – putting train travel back into the service of passengers, not profits.

  I’m not sure how not charging people more is actively putting money in their pockets and of course the government takes the revenue risk on rail fares under National Rail Contracts.

  Meanwhile, the DfT says:

  With transport costs making up 14% of household spending, this cost-cutting move is providing real savings for passengers

  This is true but a bizarre thing to say all the same. Transport costs may make up 14% of household spending but rail fares could be as low as 1% of spending in the average household.

  It’s also quite funny that the DfT has used a picture (above) of old fashioned orange magnetic stripe tickets to illustrate the story – the ones the whole industry is trying to move away from. Just for fun, I left the caption in.

  But the DfT also rather stupidly refers to:

  building on the expansion of successful Pay As You Go and fares trials across the country

  In fact, the whole process of expanding pay as you go in the South East beyond London is and continues to be, a shambles.

  Of 50 stations that were due to go live in December, 20 (on Greater Anglia Routes) had to be delayed.

  2026.03.02

• No end in sight for delayed contactless roll-out

  The Department for Transport (DfT) has confirmed that there is no target date to complete its programme of enabling rail stations in the South East outside London to accept contactless payments.

  As I reported on Monday, the 50 stations due to be upgraded are the first stations in the second phase of a programme being delivered by Transport for London (TfL), which should have been completed last year.

  

  The first phase of 53 stations was delivered earlier this year, meaning that so far less than half the overall programme of 233 has been delivered.

  A DfT spokesperson told me “We don’t have a specific target completion date to share,” which could just mean that they don’t want to disclose a new target date that might be missed.

  The DfT did say that it expects to announce further stations in the South East for delivery mid 2026 “in due course”.

  TfL refused to tell me anything, on the grounds that the programme that it is delivering for the DfT is the DfT’s programme.

  That didn’t stop Alex Williams, TfL’s chief customer and strategy officer, saying

  We are delighted to be extending pay-as-you-go with contactless to a further 50 stations from 14 December, including Stansted Airport, making it easier for those arriving at the airport to travel to London and experience all the city has to offer.

  It may be of course that the delay is not due to technical difficulties but to the DfT releasing the funding slowly.

  2025.11.19

• DfT and TfL adrift on contactless roll-out

  The Department for Transport’s (DfT) claim that tap-in, tap-out payment for trains has been “expanded across south-east England” has to be one of the most misleading press releases I have seen for a long time.

  It’s misleading not only because it’s by no means the universal coverage that the word “across” implies but because the programme is nowhere near the coverage that should have been achieved by the end of last year.

  The good news is that the addition of the 50 new stations to the Transport for London (TfL) system in four weeks’ time, including Stansted and Southend airports, means that passengers travelling to every London airport will be able to use contactless ticketing – assuming that they could tap in when then started their journeys.

  

  But, as I have reported extensively, this is part of a programme of 233 stations that TfL is delivering for the DfT – effectively extending the Oyster network – that was originally due to be completed by the end of 2024.

  It’s the first instalment on the “main phase” of 180 stations, with the “initial phase” of 53 stations being completed earlier this year, nearly two years late.

  (more…)

  2025.11.17