Contactless cards & Apple Pay on London's public transport in 2024

• The fare structure of using a Contactless card is almost identical to using an Oyster card. However, the contactless card has a 7-day cap running Monday to Sunday not available with Oyster as well as the daily cap.

• Visitor Oyster cards have a non-refundable activation fee of £5. Newly issued Oyster cards cost £7 which is refundable. You can get £5 back from your Oyster Card if it was purchased before 23 February 2020. Contactless payment cards have no similar charges.

• With Oyster you add credit to your Oyster before you travel and fares are deducted from your Oyster card immediately. With contactless cards the total cost of all the journeys that you make in one day is calculated at the end of the day and a single charge is made to your contactless payment card account. If you are from overseas and have a credit/debit card that you use for contactless payments remember you may incur foreign exchange charges by your issuer like any other purchase in British pounds.

• Unlike the Oyster card the contactless facility has a 7 day cap as well as the Oyster daily cap used by Oyster. The price of this cap is exactly the same as a 7 day Travelcard. The only difference to a 7 day Travelcard is that a 7 day Travelcard can start any day of the week for 7 days, the contactless card 7 day cap runs from Monday to Sunday only.

• Discount entitlements can't be added to a contactless payment card like an Oyster card. So if you are eligible for free or discounted travel, you should continue using your existing Oyster card. This in effect rules out children using contactless payment methods.

Overseas transaction fees

You should be aware that as for other purchases, overseas transaction fees or charges may apply for visitors to London for travel made with a card issued outside the UK. Please do check with your card issuer as charges levied are variable, even between cards from the same issuer.

Watch out for card clash

Use the same card for all of your transport in London using contactless payment cards. If you use a different card at the end of the journey to the one at the start both cards will be charged the maximum fare on the transport system for that journey. Take care that no other contactless payment cards in your possession are not in the vicinity of the card reader, the card reader may pick-up the wrong card as a result.

Contactless payment fares

Every time you make a journey on London's public transport your contactless payment card is charged a fare, the same fare as Oyster cards. Once you reach the daily cap (see below) in a day that is the maximum you will be charged for public transport that day.

Price caps are the maximum you will pay in a day, a price ceiling. No matter how many individual trips you make in any 24 hour period between 4.30am and 4.30am you will not be charged more than the price cap amount. This price cap spreads across all modes of transport, so if you mix bus, underground and DLR in one day the same price cap applies.

Fare capping & using Contactless cards on buses

Using a contactless card on the buses is the same as an Oyster, just swipe your card over the pad on entry and the machine will confirm your fare has been taken. That's it, you don't get a ticket and you don't swipe it again on exiting the bus.

If you use only buses to travel on a calendar day, there is a special lower daily cap than the daily cap stated below which is for when you use other transport in London in your travel mix. Check the London bus page for the current bus only cap. There is also a 7 day bus only cap available on contactless cards lower than the 7 day cap stated below, again look at the bus page for the current rate.