EE customers will be able to travel on London’s Underground, DLR and Overground networks using their mobile phones when TfL’s contactless program launches on 16 September.
EE is to become the only UK network provider to offer a contactless payment service, meaning that users will be able to use their mobile phones to pay for London travel instead of an Oyster card.
The service will use EE’s free Cash on Tap mobile contactless payment service app, which is due to be compatible with over 500,000 handsets this year. There will be no added charges for using Cash on Tap to pay for travel, and both daily and weekly caps ensure customers won’t pay any more than they would using an Oyster card.
“Users of the world’s greatest tube network will shortly benefit from the latest in mobile payment technology, allowing them to use their phone to pay for their daily commute,” said Gerry McQuade, chief marketing officer, EE.
“As more and more people benefit from the simplicity, convenience and security that mobile contactless payments offer, it’s rapidly becoming clear that the days of the physical wallet are fast becoming numbered.”
Speaking at the IAB’s Mobile Engage conference in May, Weve’s CEO, David Sear, said that 2014 is the year in which there will be a “massive shift” in the way people use their mobile devices and that consumers are at the “tapping point” of contactless payments.
Sear said that the desire for consumers to be able to use their mobile phones for payments – devices that they are “emotionally attached” to – is a natural progression for the relationship between consumers and smartphones.
“We trust our devices – they contain our lives – and payment is a natural extension of that trust.”
