London’s contactless ticketing system deserves its reputation as a world-leading innovation. Passengers can simply travel, automatically pay the best available fare and benefit from daily and weekly cap without having to understand the complexity behind the system.
It is no surprise that “London-style ticketing” has become shorthand for the experience other cities and regions want to create.
But what exactly are they trying to replicate?
In his latest report, Thomas Ableman, former Director of Strategy and Innovation at Transport for London (TfL), argues that the answer is not Contactless itself. Seven of the eight benefits passengers value about London’s system come from its account-based, post-pay proposition - not from the bank card used to access it. The remaining benefit is the convenience of travelling with something people already carry. When London’s system was conceived, that was a contactless card. Today, it is a smartphone.
This is the case Thomas makes for Digital Pay-As-You-Go: the same effortless access, automatic best fares and fare caps, delivered through a medium that can also understand the complete journey, communicate with passengers in real time and reduce the need for physical infrastructure.
Drawing on examples from Switzerland and Denmark, the report shows that Digital PAYG is not a future concept. It is already operating at national scale.
Don’t miss out!
Get the app
Our Blog
