Transport for London (TfL) is exploring whether Railcards can be linked to passengers’ contactless bank cards or phones, enabling them to enjoy discounts on their Tube travel. Sir Sadiq Khan has revealed that the transport authority is looking at the possibility as part of wider plans to expand contactless ticketing across much of the Home Counties.
Owners of Railcards such as the 16-25 Railcard, the 26-30 Railcard or the Senior Railcard can all benefit from a 1/3 discount for journeys made on the Tube, Overground, DLR or Elizabeth line during off-peak hours on weekdays, or all day on weekends. Daily ‘caps’ are also reduced with a Railcard, so long as journeys are made within off-peak hours. For example, journeys between zones one to three are ordinarily capped at £10 a day, but with the Railcard discount, the equivalent cap for off-peak journeys is £6.60.
However, Railcard discounts can only currently be used on the Tube by passengers who use an Oyster card to travel - despite the fact that the vast majority of Tube journeys are now made using contactless bank cards or mobile devices. Even once a passenger has bought an Oyster card, accessing the cheaper travel can be difficult, as it requires a TfL staff member to ‘link’ it with their Railcard for them - and only some staff have the ability to do this.
The issue was raised with the mayor in a recent written question by Caroline Russell, Green group leader on the London Assembly, who asked if TfL “plans to make Oyster available digitally or to allow the linking of Railcard discounts to contactless cards”.
