London’s buses are no longer accepting cash, as 99% of customers already use Oyster, prepaid tickets, contactless payment cards or concessionary tickets, says Transport for London (TfL).
TfL was quoted by theguardian.com as saying that dwindling numbers of passengers using money to pay for their journeys had prompted the change.
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TfL buses director Mike Weston told theguardian.com, "The way our customers pay for goods and services is evolving, so we need to ensure our ticketing evolves too."
"Removing cash from our bus network not only offers customers a quicker and more efficient bus service but it enables us to make savings of £24m a year which will be re-invested to further improve London’s transport network."
The recent move follows a consultation that was conducted last summer, in which 37,000 Londoners responded. Nearly 33% agreed that cash transaction should be removed, with three quarters indicating that they do not pay for the bus using cash.
In order to ensure hassle free journey, TfL also plans to introduce a "one more journey" system, allowing passengers to use the bus if they have a positive balance on their card, but not enough for a single journey.
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By GlobalDataThe change came in effect from 6 July.
