Contactless Payments Can Be Made River Bus Services
Good news for commuters travelling on the river from Putney & Wandsworth to the City
From today, May 20, customers travelling on MBNA Thames Clippers River Bus services can pay as they go using contactless payment cards.
Contactless payment, which has already helped change the way people pay for bus, Tube, tram and most National Rail services across London, can now be used on all MBNA Thames Clippers River Bus routes, including the service to and from Putney stopping at Chelsea Harbour/Imperial Wharf in Fulham plus Wandsworth's Plantation Wharf and Wandsworth Riverside.
Altogether River Bus services cover around 28 kilometres of the Thames between Putney and Woolwich Arsenal.
Customers using contactless payment cards are charged the same adult rate pay as you go fare as using an Oyster card. All they need to do is touch in on the card reader with their contactless payment card or mobile device - when asked to do so by a member of staff as they board - and then touch out again at the end of their journey, or when changing boats.
They will be charged for their journey based on the three easy-to-understand river fare zones - West, Central and East.
Around 500,000 journeys have been made along the Thames using pay as you go on Oyster cards since it was introduced on MBNA Thames Clippers River Bus services last September. As well as being more convenient for customers, using Oyster also offers cheaper fares than buying a paper ticket from the ticket office and saves time on queuing.
TfL says the introduction of contactless payments is just one of a number of developments aimed at helping to encourage better use of the river and increase passenger journeys along the Thames to 12 million a year by 2020.
In recent years, a range of improvements have been delivered, including changes to the look of the piers, improved signage, better provision of live River Bus information and two pier extensions currently being carried out at Bankside and Westminster piers to create extra capacity and allow more boats to call there.
TfL has also made live River Bus information available on its website as well as to app developers here as part of its wider commitment to make the information it holds freely available to help Londoners and visitors get around easily.
Sean Collins, CEO, MBNA Thames Clippers, says: MBNA Thames Clippers made significant investment last year delivering two new vessels to meet our growing demand. We plan to further invest in our fleet and staff to continue to deliver a fast, efficient and comfortable service, for passengers travelling through our fantastic city.
In February, a new timetable added extra River Bus services for commuters travelling from Fullham to the City and on to Canary Wharf
The timetable saw extra services added and the morning capacity doubled during the key commuting times of 7.25am and 7.55am.
There are now ten boats travelling east from Putney and stopping at Chelsea Harbour, next to Fulham's Imperial Wharf, between 6.17am and 10.07am and nine between 5.22pm and 9.25pm.
In the other direction, there are five boats coming west in the morning, and eight bringing people home in the evening and reaching the borders of Fulham between 5.04pm and 8.48pm.
And while most services on this RB6 route begin and end at Blackfriars, a number now continue to London Bridge and Canary Wharf, with the journey from Fulham to Canary Wharf taking less than 45 minutes.
May 20, 2016
