Transport for London trams went fully cashless last week โ you can no longer buy a paper ticket. Would you support your local transport following suit?
Youโll have to forgive me for a little local indulgence on this one โ I was born in Croydon and still live nearby, so the sight of the distinctive green and white trams is a familiar one to me.
A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the platform ticket machines had a sign on them saying they still do not accept the new ยฃ1 coin or ยฃ5 note โ and so an idea for a Which? Conversation was born: have you noticed any ticket machines STILL not accepting the new ยฃ1 coins and ยฃ5 notes?
But that particular best-laid Convo plan went awry with the cashless announcement, effective from 16 July. But maybe it’s something I’ll revive in the future.
Paper tickets for the chop?
Weโve already seenย London buses go fully cashless, so could the days of the paper ticket for other London transport, such as the tube, be numbered?
And if so, is this what the future of transport will look like outside the capital?
Iโve lived in London all my life, so Iโve gotten used to all my transport payments being contactless. When I have a travelcard itโs on Oyster, and when I donโt, I pay by contactless card.
Ways to pay
This may work for me, but not everyone wants to be forced into contactless payments. There have been concerns around security, some donโt have contactless-enabled cards, and many simply prefer to pay with cash.
With more transport taking the cashless route and the government looking to introduce smart ticketing for rail across England and Wales by the end of this year, are cashless payments the way forward?
If the local transport in your area switched to card-only payments only tomorrow, would you be prepared? Do you still use cash to pay for public transport?