6 July Is The Date London Buses Will Go Cash Free

Rachel Holdsworth
By Rachel Holdsworth Last edited 119 months ago
6 July Is The Date London Buses Will Go Cash Free

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Make sure your Oyster card is topped up: from 6 July you won't be able to pay your fare with coins.

Transport for London had already announced its decision to go cashless on buses, despite the majority of responses to its consultation being against the move. TfL argues that collecting currency is becoming inefficient — 1% of passengers pay with cash, although that equates to 24m journeys a year — and that by stopping it could save up to £130m by 2023.

We've previously listed the ways TfL will try to mitigate potential problems with going cashless (a 'one more journey' feature if you don't have the full fare left on your pay as you go Oyster, more ticket machines and better driver training to make sure vulnerable people aren't left stranded). But still: this is a significant change in the way some Londoners travel (particularly on the city borders, where Oyster isn't the dominant mode of payment) and in back-up plans for the rest of us. If you've got a contactless debit card, now might be the time to consider using it (though remember that there's no daily capping on buses at the moment).

Photo by Raphaël Chekroun from the Londonist Flickr pool

Find out more about TfL's 'One more journey' scheme.

Last Updated 10 April 2014