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 (phase 1a). 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 (phase 1b) 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, completing phase 1 of Project Oval.
Phase 2 was intended to be the next 49 stations and was announced to a great fanfare on the day that phase 1b went live. They were cautious about the target date, saying just “by the end of 2025”. You will not be at all surprised to learn that it didn’t go according to plan. The first and very minor change involved the opening of Beaulieu Park near Chelmsford, which meant 49 became 50. Nothing happened with the September fares revision, so early December was all that was left if the government weren’t to break the “by the end of 2025” pledge. Two weeks before the data was loaded it became clear that Greater Anglia had not completed all the preparatory work, so the painful decision was made to pull their 20 stations. Phase 2a became extensions to Dorking (Main), Reigate, East Grinstead, Princess Risborough, Aylesbury Vale Parkway, Harlingon and Baldock, and went live on December 15th, just in time for Christmas.
It still wasn’t quite right though. The stations beyond Welwyn Garden City and Hertford North all had incorrect fares to Kings Cross, St Pancras and Moorgate and some evening peak fares from Southern stations were also wrong because they ought to have been off-peak. There was also a lack of internal interchanges at Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City where some passengers had to touch out and back in again when changing trains. Temporary automatic refunds were set up to address these issues, and the proper fixes all went live on March 1st 2026.
A week later (to allow some last minute testing to take place) phase 2b also went live with extensions to Stansted Airport (hurrah), Witham and Southend Victoria. This time an out-of-station interchange had been set up for the walk between Central and Victoria stations in Southend, so no issues there. But, but, but, it can’t have all gone completely right, could it? Sadly not. Off-peak caps for all stations beyond Shenfield (except Beaulieu Park) were incorrectly calculated and so another set of automatic refunds had to be put in place. There is another issue, but that really deserves it’s own post, so watch the latest news.
To the future. Historically fare revisions took place in January, May and September. When Covid hit, the government postponed the January revision to March, May became June and September remained where it was. December became a fourth revision so that issues wouldn’t be stuck for six months. As the revision cycle for PAYG fares takes nearly three months, this wasn’t really sustainable, so from 2026 we have reverted to three revisions in March, July and November. Phase 3 of Project Oval is likely to go live following one of those revisions, my guess is that it will be the November one, but we’ll see.
This section will get updated with plenty of other details over the coming weeks.