Bus passengers in London can now choose to pay fares with a contactless card, Transport for London (TfL) has said.

Passengers on the city's 8,500 vehicles will be able to buy tickets by swiping a credit, debit or charge card by a reader.

More than 85,000 bus journeys are still paid for using cash each day, TfL said.

Contactless payment will not be available on the Underground until the end of 2013.

Discussions are also under way with the train operating companies that serve London about accepting contactless payment cards where Oyster is currently accepted.

BBC London's transport correspondent Tom Edwards said the new payment system could save TfL £35m-a-year in reduces cash collection costs.

'Simple touch'

TfL said every day 36,000 people board a bus and find they have insufficient funds on their Oyster card to pay for their journey and that at least 500 people a day try to pay their fare with a high denomination note for which the driver does not have change.

Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: "Lots of us have had the frustrating experience of dashing to board a bus only to discover that our Oyster card has run out of credit.

"So the arrival of this latest technology is welcome news, meaning that with a simple touch of a contactless payment card, people can avoid having to scrabble for change and also still benefit from the Oyster fare discount."

why dont the drivers carry more change then

i dunno but if i was in danger of being robbed every day i'd have bear spray, and if i never had enough change i'd get some.
whats the problem here

It'll be like Johnny cab, but with buses.

oh well. they probably wont even have bus drivers in 10 years anyway

batou wrote:
That because (and I have this from good authority) the bus companies don't provide them with cash or cash float of any kind, they have to bring their own change out of their own pocket.

It'll be like Johnny cab, but with buses.

I'm never entirely convinced by Arnold Schwarzenegger when he's trying to play a human-being. He's pretty good at playing cybernetic organisms, but he never excels in the more challenging role of playing a person.

That certainly doesn't sound like the kind of technology thieves could easily exploit on unsuspecting members of the public

Good clip that, but I'm never entirely convinced by Arnold Schwarzenegger when he's trying to play a human-being. He's pretty good at playing cybernetic organisms, but he never excels in the more challenging role of playing a person.