Bus card system for Liverpool
Updated on 21 October 2008
Bus passengers in Liverpool are set to be the first transport customers outside London to be able to use contactless payment cards to buy their tickets.
A partnership between MasterCard, Royal Bank of Scotland and bus operator Stagecoach will enable people in Liverpool to buy tickets on board buses simply by tapping their card against a reader.
The one-year trial, which will begin in April 2009 on around 200 Stagecoach buses in Merseyside, is the first significant extension of contactless payment systems outside of London.
People with a PayPass card will also be able to buy things for less than £10 by tapping their card against a sensor at several shopping locations across Liverpool, as well as using the cards for purchases of a higher amount in the usual way.
Leigh Clapham, general manager of developed markets at MasterCard Europe, said: "Together with RBS, we are combining that experience and market innovation to extend 'Tap & Go' payments to people in the UK outside London."
Ron Kalifa, managing director of global merchant services and commercial cards at RBS, said: "This year we launched a PayPass pilot to offer contactless payments in a number of London black cabs.
"Now we are looking to build on the investment already made to take transport applications one step further."
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