This part of the site is aimed at users of payment cards, mobile phones, wearables and other devices that can be used to make contactless payments. It’s particularly concerned with usage beyond zones 1-9, where certain other considerations come into effect.
A brief history
On September 16th 2014 TfL launched the ability to use contactless cards and devices to make PAYG journeys wherever Oyster was accepted. This was a game changer because you no longer needed to worry about topping up. Nearly 5 years later on August 29th 2019 Brookmans Park became the first station to accept contactless but not Oyster. A few weeks later the same arrangements were extended to Luton Airport Parkway, and then to Welwyn Garden City in November. These were the pilots for the major extension for TfL’s pre-Elizabeth line service to Reading which went live on January 2nd 2020. Initially those contactless only stations did not provide capping, but this was enabled on April 20th 2020, without much fuss because the country was in lockdown due to Covid. The final historical contactless only extensions opened in Spring 2022 with Windsor & Eton Central and Henley-on-Thames going live on March 28th and Marlow following on May 22nd.
Project Oval
In May 2022 TfL won the contract to provide contactless PAYG ticketing across a wide area of South East England, funded by the Department for Transport. The historical extensions described above provided PAYG as an optional method of payment without changing the underlying fare structure for traditional tickets. With Project Oval the intention is to change the fare structure to match the PAYG system so all fares are single with peak fares applying in the afternoon peak as well as the morning. The expected coverage of the project has fluctuated since the initial proposals, with Oxford talked about early on but now dropped, while Alton is now included. The current area is detailed in the map within this section.
Changing the fare structure proved more complicated than first thought, so it was over two years from Marlow before the next extension went live. This was 6 stations on the Chiltern line between Denham and High Wycombe inclusive. Again there was no fanfare because the go-live date was right at the end of the 2024 general election campaign. The next 47 stations were due to follow in September, but then disaster struck TfL in the form of the cyber security incident. Finally on February 2nd 2025 the extensions to Shoeburyness, Sevenoaks, Virginia Water, Windsor & Eton Riverside, Bletchley and St Albans Abbey went live and that is where we are as I write this.
This section will get updated with plenty of other details over the coming weeks.