TfL Releases Guidance On Apple Pay

TfL has laid out some helpful advice for travellers looking to get the most out of Apple Pay on its network.

The body behind London’s public transport has published its set of guidelines for utilising Apple’s payment service to navigate around the capital, two days after it was released.

This follows a slightly rocky initial welcome for Apple Pay, with some users complaining that the service is slow to respond.

Watch out

As well as providing a guide to how Apple Pay operates, TfL has also outlined some of the potential issues users may come across whilst using the service.

This includes ensuring that any contactless cards or Oyster cards are removed from phone cases, in order to avoid card clash and paying with a card you did not intend to use, as well as making sure you use the same device to both check in and check out of your journey.

Misjudging this latter point could see users hit with a penalty charge for an incomplete journey, with TfL noting that users might receive payment notifications on all their devices, regardless of which one was used for touching in or out.

Lastly, there is the advice to make sure that whichever device you use has enough battery to last for the full extent of your journey.

If this happens, you could be charged a maximum fare due to not being able to touch out at the end of your trip. And if an inspector asks you to touch your iPhone or Apple Watch on their reader and you’re out of juice, you could be liable for a penalty fare.

TfL’s network is expected to be one of the most popular uses for Apple Pay, and was in fact already accepting the service before it officially went live in the UK earlier this week.

More than 1.2 million contactless transactions are made every day on the TfL network, and has been a major factor in popularising the use of contactless payment technology in the UK.

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