Contactless to stansted

[CyrusWuff]

Not sure how GA have worked those out, given they're supposed to be 50% of the Return.

Though, of course, Off-Peak tickets are generally unregulated in the South East, hence GWR increasing theirs in March, June and September this year.

 

[JonathanH]

Not sure how GA have worked those out, given they're supposed to be 50% of the Return.

Though, of course, Off-Peak tickets are generally unregulated in the South East, hence GWR increasing theirs in March, June and September this year.

It may be imagined that they will be needing to come up with neutrality of pre-0630 fares being off-peak and the fact that the current off-peak ticket is only a day return fare.

 

[Edvid]

A quick quote within a Stansted Airport press release that was issued today (my emphasis):

Gareth Powell, Managing Director of London Stansted, opened the forum by unveiling three new sustainable travel strategies focused on bus, coach and rail services, walking and cycling, and employee travel. The plans are designed to make it easier, greener, and more convenient for people to get to and from the airport.

He also shared updates on several improvements already underway, including barrierless technology on the terminal forecourt to ease congestion during busy drop-off times, and the rollout of contactless payment on the Stansted Express by Christmas.

 

[furlong]

Well what they should do is introduce new out-and-back caps corresponding to the existing return fares.

No reason why contactless can't be programmed to do return fares for a special case like this one where contactless shouldn't be forcing them to destroy their existing market segmentation scheme and potentially lose either money or custom.

Then they can keep the single where it is at £25 at all times, but say that if you make a return journey within set periods of time (same day / within a month) an appropriate cap will kick in and limit your fare to the equivalent existing return fare.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Well what they should do is introduce new out-and-back caps corresponding to the existing return fares.

No reason why contactless can't be programmed to do return fares for a special case like this one where contactless shouldn't be forcing them to destroy their existing market segmentation scheme and potentially lose either money or custom.

Then they can keep the single where it is at £25 at all times, but say that if you make a return journey within set periods of time (same day / within a month) an appropriate cap will kick in and limit your fare to the equivalent existing return fare.

My IT experience stopped when the mainframes died, but it seems to me that reworking a system which currently has a maximum cap of a week to cope with a cap of a month would be quite challenging.

 

[Starmill]

My IT experience stopped when the mainframes died, but it seems to me that reworking a system which currently has a maximum cap of a week to cope with a cap of a month would be quite challenging.

I thought Cpay had actually been developed with that idea in mind. Obviously Oyster wasn't, but...

 

[mattdickinson]

The peak fare is now on BR fares at £23. The off peak far is still £21.

Purchase flexible walk-up fares for any British train journey

Purchase flexible single/return tickets & Travelcards – in 3 clicks. Full details of all British rail fares shown, with built-in Season Ticket Calculator.

www.brfares.com

There appear to be no period returns now available except for groups.

 

[lnerazuma]

A shocking 60% increase in fare for off peak day return from Bishop's Stortford to Stansted Airport from £5.5 to £8.8! A nightmare to those airport staff living in Bishop's Stortford.

If a TVM still currently sell £5.5 ticket for travelling after 7 Dec, could one just bulk buy loads of them for future commute?

 

[Edvid]

A shocking 60% increase in fare for off peak day return from Bishop's Stortford to Stansted Airport from £5.5 to £8.8! A nightmare to those airport staff living in Bishop's Stortford.

Elimination of contraflow 'discounts' is another Oval side-effect. The 'with-flow' fare is currently £8.70.

If a TVM still currently sell £5.5 ticket for travelling after 7 Dec, could one just bulk buy loads of them for future commute?

I think so.

 

[greatkingrat]

A shocking 60% increase in fare for off peak day return from Bishop's Stortford to Stansted Airport from £5.5 to £8.8! A nightmare to those airport staff living in Bishop's Stortford.

If a TVM still currently sell £5.5 ticket for travelling after 7 Dec, could one just bulk buy loads of them for future commute?

I doubt many airport staff are buying daily tickets, there are special airport staff season tickets available that would be much cheaper in most cases.

 

[Edvid]

14 December has been made public as the go-live date for contactless PAYG to/from Stansted Airport and 49 other stations across the South East.

The change that will stop tens of thousands of travellers from getting train fines

A London TravelWatch spokesperson welcomed the decision to end the ‘unfair’ ban on contactless payments

www.independent.co.uk

Neil Lancefield
Sunday 16 November 2025 23:16 GMT

Tens of thousands of rail passengers travelling between London and Stansted Airport will no longer face £100 fines, as a controversial ticketing rule is set to be abolished next month.

From December 14, Stansted Airport station will begin accepting contactless payments, a move announced by the Department for Transport. This change, which will also apply to 49 other stations across South East England, addresses the issue that previously led to penalties for Stansted Express users.

Passengers are able to open ticket barriers at Liverpool Street and Tottenham Hale stations and board a train to the airport by tapping their contactless cards, but are prohibited from tapping out at the end of their journey.

In recent years, Stansted Express operator Greater Anglia – which was nationalised last month – has regularly deployed teams of ticket inspectors at the airport.

Watchdog London TravelWatch estimated in 2019 that 16,000 Stansted Express travellers per year were being fined for trying to pay with contactless or Oyster cards.

A London TravelWatch spokesperson welcomed the decision to end the “unfair” ban on contactless payments for travel to and from London.

She told the PA news agency: “Passengers still need to be savvy to avoid paying over the odds, and the rail industry has got be super-clear in communicating the changes.

“Oyster cards won’t count as contactless cards and will still not be valid at Stansted Airport Station.”

Southend airport’s station will also accept contactless payments from December 14, meaning passengers will be able to use the technology to pay for train travel from London to all airports serving the capital.

Despite contactless cards being accepted between London and Stansted, they will still not be permitted for journeys between Cambridge and the airport.

Rail minister Lord Hendy said: “Rail ticketing is far too complicated and long overdue an upgrade to bring it into the 21st century.

“Through the expansion of tap-in tap-out technology, and shortly through GBR (Great British Railways), we’re doing just that and making buying tickets more convenient, more accessible and more flexible – and ensuring passengers can get the best fares.

“As part of our Plan for Change, we’re delivering straightforward, stress-free train travel across the South East, supporting passengers and boosting economic growth, jobs and homes.”

This expansion of contactless ticketing in the South East received £18.7 million of Government funding, as well as support from Transport for London.

Among other stations to benefit are Aylesbury, Chelmsford, Dorking (Main), Luton, Southend Victoria and Stevenage.

 

[Djgr]

Worth repeating:

Rail minister Lord Hendy said: “Rail ticketing is far too complicated and long overdue an upgrade to bring it into the 21st century.

This is relevant to multiple threads

 

[JonathanH]

Worth repeating:

Rail minister Lord Hendy said: “Rail ticketing is far too complicated and long overdue an upgrade to bring it into the 21st century.

This is relevant to multiple threads

Unfortunately, the changes being made don't actually make it less complicated (or at least leave anomolies).

 

[Hadders]

Worth repeating:

Rail minister Lord Hendy said: “Rail ticketing is far too complicated and long overdue an upgrade to bring it into the 21st century.

This is relevant to multiple threads

Contactless is also being extended to Stevenage. It is good that passengers will be able to use contactless, but…

This ‘simplification’ means there are significant price increases, especially for weekend travel where fares increase by 20%. The introduction of evening peak restrictions means anyone travelling Off peak on the way to London and returning in the evening peak pays significantly more.

At weekends, it will be cheaper to purchase a ticket from Arlesey and start/finish short.

Not exactly simple….

 

[blimmo]

I find the idea that contactless makes ticketing simpler baffling. The vast majority of serious complexity I have seen on this forum is due to the interactions of PAYG and paper tickets.

 

[Class73Electro]

I find the idea that contactless makes ticketing simpler baffling. The vast majority of serious complexity I have seen on this forum is due to the interactions of PAYG and paper tickets.

Well its simpler as in you can charge whatever ticket type and the person will never know because its just a beep.

Call me old fashioned, but I like a nice paper ticket, with a to, and a from, and a fixed price, set to the requirements stated (eg off peak, day return, month return...)

 

[Fawkes Cat]

I find the idea that contactless makes ticketing simpler baffling. The vast majority of serious complexity I have seen on this forum is due to the interactions of PAYG and paper tickets.

So if paper tickets go away, so will the complexity?

Realistically, the day of the pre-bought ticket for local journeys is almost over - regardless of whether it is really made of paper, or is an e-ticket or similar. Where pre-purchasing will remain is for longer distance journeys, in that starting from Merseyside I might go to Manchester or York on a whim (and so use contactless as I enter the railway), but a trip to London or Edinburgh is much more likely to be preplanned (and so I will be looking for the best balance of journey cost against time of travel).

 

[MarlowDonkey]

Realistically, the day of the pre-bought ticket for local journeys is almost over - regardless of whether it is really made of paper, or is an e-ticket or similar.

I'm not sure that's totally true for those with railcards travelling into London from outside the Zone 1 to 6 area. Discounted prices are not available with contactless and phone based tickets are unavailable for Underground travel, so paper tickets are needed. Because of the potential for delays or problems with ticket machines, collecting the ticket for future travel when not pressed for time makes a certain amount of sense.

 

[plugwash]

Realistically, the day of the pre-bought ticket for local journeys is almost over - regardless of whether it is really made of paper, or is an e-ticket or similar. Where pre-purchasing will remain is for longer distance journeys, in that starting from Merseyside I might go to Manchester or York on a whim (and so use contactless as I enter the railway),

That doesn't seem to be what is actually happening though. We seem to be getting seperate contactless PAYG systems for different areas (Merseyside, Greater Manchester, South Wales, London and the south east etc). So if your journey crosses between two different PAYG areas or involves a station that is not in a PAYG area you will not be able to use contactless PAYG.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

So if your journey crosses between two different PAYG areas or involves a station that is not in a PAYG area you will not be able to use contactless PAYG.

The demand, I think, is there. So either the demand will be met or the railways will have to cope with constant cries of why touch-in / touch-out can work in London but not between Liverpool and Manchester (or Leverpool and Leeds, or whatever journey someone is happening to make)

 

[RyanOPlasty]

“Oyster cards won’t count as contactless cards and will still not be valid at Stansted Airport Station.”

So after the changes, there will still be people arriving at Stansted who are fined for using a contactless card that would be valid to Heathrow and Gatwick?

 

[JonathanH]

So after the changes, there will still be people arriving at Stansted who are fined for using a contactless card that would be valid to Heathrow and Gatwick?

Yes. Let's hope that the signage is clear, and that people observe that Oyster isn't valid, even though Contactless cards are. Where does personal responsibility end for realising that a particular type of ticket isn't valid?

 

[MikeWh]

“Oyster cards won’t count as contactless cards and will still not be valid at Stansted Airport Station.”

So after the changes, there will still be people arriving at Stansted who are fined for using a contactless card that would be valid to Heathrow and Gatwick?

Does Luton suffer from a serious Oyster problem?

 

[Watershed]

“Oyster cards won’t count as contactless cards and will still not be valid at Stansted Airport Station.”

So after the changes, there will still be people arriving at Stansted who are fined for using a contactless card that would be valid to Heathrow and Gatwick?

People will likely get Penalty Fares for using Oyster, yes.

 

[Haywain]

Does Luton suffer from a serious Oyster problem?

I saw someone arriving with an Oyster card just a few days ago but since contactless has been accepted it's not a serious problem.

 

[MikeWh]

I saw someone arriving with an Oyster card just a few days ago but since contactless has been accepted it's not a serious problem.

Thanks. I feel Stansted will likely be the same.

 

[Haywain]

Thanks. I feel Stansted will likely be the same.

I guess there might be figures available about how many journeys are made using each of contactless and Oyster, but without them I suspect the split is very heavily in favour of the former. And even more so amongst tourists.

 

[Hadders]

While it won't die out completely, Oyster use is has declined significantly. The vast majority are paying for their travel using contactless, often on their phone.

 

[Edvid]

Well it took until 8 March to go live, but it's now in place. Not that you'd know if you solely followed the airport's website guidance...





The latest of IanVisits' many 'contactless at Stansted' articles includes a couple of pictures of where the 'no Oyster / Contactless' signs used to be at Liverpool Street.

 

[Djgr]

Well it took until 8 March to go live, but it's now in place. Not that you'd know if you solely followed the airport's website guidance...

View attachment 200011

View attachment 200012

The latest of IanVisits' many 'contactless at Stansted' articles includes a couple of pictures of where the 'no Oyster / Contactless' signs used to be at Liverpool Street.

Presumably loads of gateline staff hanging around now, waiting their next customer focused project?