Transport minister hails contactless travel on all major operator buses within six years

Transport minister Andrew Jones has hailed a smart-ticketing "tipping point" and the five big bus operators for prioritising the introduction of the new technology.

The establishment of the Smart Cities Partnership of nine city regions, which currently have 700,000 smart-cards in use, has led to operators Arriva, First Group, Go Ahead, National Express and Stagecoach agreeing that every bus will have contactless travel by 2022, "with many areas benefiting sooner". This follows the introduction of the Swift smart-card in the West Midlands, backed by DfT funding, and multi-operator cards in Manchester and Brighton.

Meanwhile, the rail industry has agreed funding to explore how contactless payments can be introduced for rail season tickets and long-distance travel, so passengers no longer have to print out tickets. This will consider the benefits of pay-as-you-go for set fares or for multiple uses during a day or journey.