How many metros/bus networks allow contactless payments?

[Birkonian]

Yes you do need a Belgian SIM card.

https://help.delijn.be/hc/en-us/articles/360039675111-Can-I-purchase-an-ticket-or-day-ticket-via-sms-through-a-foreign-mobile-phone-operator-

You would have to either use a contactless card, or buy a ticket from a Lijnwinkel (Kiosk) or ticket machine.

There is usually a Lijnwinkel or ticket machine near most arrival points in Flanders, such as the railway stations at Gent, Bruges, Ieper (Ypres), Antwerp and Ostend.

The De Lijn app is very useful and has an English option. If you store your credit card details it takes about 20 seconds to buy a single or day ticket. 10 single tickets cost €17.00 and are valid for 1 year. Alternatively, it can be used to buy an SMS ticket but that costs €2.65 instead of €2.50.

 

[miklcct]

In the Pearl River Delta area:

Buses in Hong Kong (KMB/LWB and Citybus/NWFB) now accept contactless payment card, however the metro system doesn't do so. In contrast, those metro systems in Guangdong province do so, and also on buses and Guangzhou - Shenzhen intercity trains.

Reference

Correct. In most Swedish cities you can use a contactless debit or credit card to pay for a single ticket at the ticket barrier or from the driver. However the trend for a long time has been towards mobile apps. In the case of my local city, on board bus tickets are about 1/3 more expensive, incentivising pre-purchase from an app.

Cash is accepted almost nowhere, and certainly not on trains and buses.

Train tickets are likewise digital. Neither SJ, MTRX, Flixtrain, Snälltåget, TågAB nor VY have any staffed ticket offices. Buy on the web or in an app, and show a QR code. If you don't have a smartphone or internet access, you can buy SJ train tickets from newsagents for a 100kr (€10) fee.

SJ don't sell or inspect tickets on intercity trains with mandatory seat reservations: the conductor passes through the train checking that the actual seat occupancy matches the reservations and only intervenes if there is someone sitting in a supposedly empty seat.

What kind of transport in Sweden accept cash at the station or on board?

 

[rvdborgt]

The De Lijn app is very useful and has an English option. If you store your credit card details it takes about 20 seconds to buy a single or day ticket. 10 single tickets cost €17.00 and are valid for 1 year. Alternatively, it can be used to buy an SMS ticket but that costs €2.65 instead of €2.50.

10 single tickets on a disposable chipcard cost the same but are valid for 3 years. You can buy them at NMBS/SNCB station ticket offices, De Lijn ticket machines and many local shops (typically newspaper shops).

 

[gordonthemoron]

In NSW you can use a contactless card instead of an adult Opal card, with largely the same benefits. Brisbane is trialling contactless on the Gold Coast light rail

 

[Springs Branch]

In Adelaide, South Australia, contactless cards can be used on the tram system. Contactless is being extended to the O-Bahn guided busway during 2022, and will presumably be (eventually) extended to all metropolitan buses and trains.

 

[jamesontheroad]

What kind of transport in Sweden accept cash at the station or on board?

None, to my knowledge.

 

[route101]

How does it work with my UK debit card? I get charged a fee everytime I use my card abroad.

 

[zero]

What kind of transport in Sweden accept cash at the station or on board?

None, to my knowledge.

Apparently Stockholm tram 7 accepts cash, but I don't understand the purpose of this. Whenever I've taken that tram everyone already had a ticket, although people often spent many minutes asking the conductors for directions to other points of interest.

In 2017, I took the Roslagsbana and on one train, the conductor took payment in cash from some travellers when they said the ticket machines were not functioning.

I believe many SL metro stations still have staffed ticket offices and in 2018 I was able to pay there in cash. Not sure if this is still possible.

How does it work with my UK debit card? I get charged a fee everytime I use my card abroad.

You would pay the fee every time a charge is processed. Most transport networks process the total charges once at the end of each travel day, but some may process a charge for every trip.

Get a current account that comes with a debit card that doesn't have any charges for using it abroad. There are plenty.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Apparently Stockholm tram 7 accepts cash, but I don't understand the purpose of this. Whenever I've taken that tram everyone already had a ticket, although people often spent many minutes asking the conductors for directions to other points of interest.

Good spot, you can indeed buy a ticket by cash exclusively on SL tram line 7. I presume this is because it's the most likely line to attract tourists who might arrive with the expectation of spending cash in Sweden.

 

[stuu]

How does it work with my UK debit card? I get charged a fee everytime I use my card abroad.

Get one that doesn't? There are lots of free prepaid cards which don't charge a fee, and not all banks do. Or accept the fee, its usually a couple of percent, so 4c on a €2 metro ticket.

 

[johncrossley]

There are some really bad debit cards out there. For example, the Halifax and Lloyds charge 50p per transaction, plus a 2.99% fee. At least they've removed the 50p fee for transactions within the EEA in Euro. By contrast, the Halifax offer one of the best *credit* cards for foreign use.

There's a list of the worst cards here:

Best travel credit and debit cards

Compare the best travel credit and debit cards for fee-free overseas spending, near-perfect exchange rates and cashback. See MoneySavingExpert's top picks before you travel.

www.moneysavingexpert.com

Let's make this plain: don't use the cards in this section for spending overseas. Unless you're spending euros in the EU, Iceland, Liechtenstein or Norway, the cards below charge 50p-£1.50 for transactions on top of their normal exchange-rate charge.

Imagine you buy something for the equivalent of £5 in a shop in the USA. With the worst of these cards, it can end up costing £6.60 with the fee and charges.

Debit card	Exchange load (mark-up)	ATM charge (i)	Spending charge (i)
Clydesdale/Yorkshire Bank (ii)	None	3.75%, min £1.50 (iii)	2.75%, min £1.50 (iii)
Intelligent Finance (ii)	2.25%	£1.50	£1.50
TSB	2.99%	1.5% (min £2, max £4.50)	£1
Bank of Scotland	2.99%	£1.50	50p
Lloyds Bank	2.99%	£1.50	50p
Halifax	2.99%	£1.50	50p

(i) Except on payments in euros within EEA. (ii) Existing customers only. (iii) Except on transactions in euros, Swedish krona and Romanian leu within the EEA.

 

[XAM2175]

How does it work with my UK debit card? I get charged a fee everytime I use my card abroad.

I find this to be a very good prepaid card for use around Europe and much of the rest of the world:

Currency Card | UK Multi-Currency Card

Pay like a local in 200 countries. Spend right away with Google and Apple Pay. Have access to over 50 currencies in your pocket. Control your fx card security and spendings with Wise.

wise.com

 

[ThisIsSurbiton]

The De Lijn network in the Flemish speaking part of Belgium has gone cashless

But it doesn't seem to be capped at the daily rate, unlike in Brussels. Edit: wrong!

Brussel/BE-the local metrotrambus=MIVB/STIB

A shame trains aren't included (but then it was never clear to me how to use the MoBIB card that apparently was valid)... this was never much of a problem but with better local services now it might be useful.

I am currently in Lyon and they are heavily promoting contactless travel with payment by bank (credit) card. It seems to be newly introduced.

So new that a ticket inspector on the tram was quite unsure what to do! The answer in the end was... nothing. And on two buses and at one station, none of the bank card validators were working, or even apparently powered. This was at the end of June so early days I suppose but you get used to it working flawlessly. I don't know why I hadn't been back to Lyon every year. What a place.

It's interesting that in these three regions, and maybe many others, a validator exists for other contactless tickets, but a new one had to be provided for bank cards. One thing that the UK got right, at least.

 

[johncrossley]

But it doesn't seem to be capped at the daily rate, unlike in Brussels.

https://help.delijn.be/hc/en-us/articles/360013472337-Why-was-7-50-euros-taken-from-my-account-when-I-made-a-contactless-payment-

Why was 7.50 euros taken from my account when I made a contactless payment?​

On the first journey of the day, 7.50 euros is reserved (from the payment account linked to the medium used). A reservation does not mean that money is taken from the account.

Your reservation may look different depending on your banking app:

• You may see a reservation for 7.50 euros
• The available balance may be temporarily reduced by 7.50 euros
• 7.50 euros may seem to be debited from your account. This amount, minus the charge for your journeys, is then refunded the next day
• You don't see a reservation

Who do we reserve this amount?

We reserve this amount to limit the risk that a trip would not be paid for. We can only charge trips at the end of the day. Because we don't know how much you will travel during the day, 7.5 euros is reserved for the 1st trip of the day. We do this every day. At the end of the day, the reservation will be reversed.

I know this doesn't directly mention capping, but it suggests that you can't pay more than 7.50 a day.

 

[ThisIsSurbiton]

I know this doesn't directly mention capping, but it suggests that you can't pay more than 7.50 a day.

Thanks for the correction - that must be it.

 

[SLTRegular]

In NSW you can use a contactless card instead of an adult Opal card, with largely the same benefits. Brisbane is trialling contactless on the Gold Coast light rail

Brisbane also has it on a couple of railway lines think its the Ipswich and Doomben?

 

[deltic]

I see Bucharest allows contactless on its buses which are operated by new Otokar and Mercedes Hybrid buses but there doesn't seem to be any way of finding out which routes these buses work.

 

[Segedunum]

I see Bucharest allows contactless on its buses which are operated by new Otokar and Mercedes Hybrid buses but there doesn't seem to be any way of finding out which routes these buses work.

And on one of its tram lines as well. But good luck finding a machine that doesn't decline your payment or has had the equipment stolen.

The implementation of contactless in Bucharest is a fragmented mess.

 

[dutchflyer]

ROMA/IT: the Metro run by ATAC now allows it-at at least 1 gate at every stop. The not so nice result then is, you cannot use it for the otherwise free transfer to buses/trams-these are not yet adapted. Single tickets cost 1,50, valid for 100 mins. Strangely there were 2 types of machines in stations: of ATAC=-with this price (and also other options) and another one, different color, which wanted 2€ for it.
SE/Sweden: ON stations-SJ does not have any outlets anymore. Major towns will usually still have an outlet for the local/regional ´Verbund type´ transport organiser and these will in most cases still accept cash for the tickets they sell. Staying some 5 days there 2 weeks ago I found its perfectly possible to not use any cash at all and do all payments by card. Pressbyran-the everywhere convenience shops (that once were for newspprs and magazines-like WH Smith) were so kind to offer coffee and some snacks at even reduced pensioners prices-making it even cheaper as in Nederland. Depending on the region PB can also load types of tickets on the local smartcards-and I assume they also still take cash for that. In Norway same with Narvesen, in Denmark with 7-11 (these can even print tickets ordered online for DSB), in FINland with R-Kioskki. (R=Rautatie=railways)
ON quite another reverse side: am now again in Germany and here its definitely still impossible to go without cash-also for normal daily life.
ON SL/Stockholm it seems even possible to get your bankcard set to reduced pensioner/junior price by going into its website the day before.

 

[riceuten]

its definitely still impossible to go without cash-also for normal daily life

It depends where you are. Frankfurt Am Main, no problems whatsoever using a card on transport to buy tickets. Some DB vending machines will accept credit/debit cards, some won't and will only accept cash or (only German) EC cards. They look identical, so it's not even as if you can tell them by type.

Generally card acceptance is gaining more and more traction nowadays, but often with ridiculous minimum spend - €10-20.

You can get a smart card for Strasbourg in France for free - and I applied for one in the UK and they sent me one !

 

[CarrotPie]

You can pay with contactless on the ferry routes to/from Suomenlinna in Helsinki and on most bus lines in Rovaniemi

I assume this is to make live easier for tourists so they don't need to find out how to buy tickets.