UK: The Samsung Pay mobile phone app can now be used pay for travel in London, following its UK launch on May 16. The app supports MasterCard and Visa credit and debit cards, and can be used for pay-as-you-go travel by bus, London Underground, tram, Docklands Light Railway, Emirates Air Line, River Bus and most National Rail services in London.
Samsung worked with Transport for London to enable users to set a payment card specifically as a transport card. Once registered, the phone screen does not have to be on: users touch the middle of their phone on the yellow card reader in the same way they would use an Oyster smartcard or a contactless payment card.
TfL has accepted Apple Pay since July 2015 and Android Pay since May 2016. ‘It is great to see another mobile ticketing option introduced into the market’, said Shashi Verma, Chief Technology Officer at TfL, when Samsung Pay was launched. ‘More than 900 million contactless journeys have already been made in London and the ability to nominate a specific transport card with Samsung Pay will significantly benefit customers using this simple and secure mobile payment solution.’
Contactless payment is now used for about 40% of pay-as-you-go journeys in London. Of these, 9% are made using mobile devices, with more than 31 million journeys made using mobile phones in the last 12 months.
