London bus cash fares may be axed
Oyster ‘credit card’ scheme could be brought it so passengers can make extra journey even if they have insufficient funds and pay back later.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Cash fare payments on London buses may become a thing of the past as transport bosses look set to phase them out.
Fewer than one per cent of London bus journeys now involve passengers paying cash and Transport for London (TfL) is now consulting on scrapping cash payments altogether by 2014.
TfL is also exploring measures to introduce a new Oyster card feature that would allow bus passengers to make one more journey if there are insufficient funds on the pre-paid cards, just to get them home.
Passengers would then need to pay for this extra journey when they top up their card.
Official figures show that the majority of cash-paying passengers are between 16 and 34. Four in every five passengers using cash do so because they don’t have enough money on their Oyster card.
The cashless fare proposals are being considered in order to speed up boarding times at bus stops.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments