Barclaycard secures new ten-year merchant acquirer contract with TfL

The full roll-out of contactless payments on TfL in September 2014 has been a driving factor in facilitating easier travel across London. As TfL’s merchant acquirer, Barclaycard has processed over 278 million contactless transactions - driven by journeys made on bus, Tube, tram, DLR, London Overground, TfL Rail, Emirates Air Line, River Bus and most National Rail services in London every day.

The renewed partnership includes providing contactless payment solutions for the Elizabeth line, which will see services running from Reading and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east by December 2019.

To facilitate contactless payments on London’s transport network Barclaycard worked with TfL to develop a solution which is compatible with the way TfL charges for contactless journeys. At the end of the day the cost of journeys are aggregated and checked against specially designed transit fraud and risk rules. Where applicable, they are also ‘capped’ at the cost of the daily or weekly travelcard, to ensure that customers always pay the lowest available fare for the journeys they make.

Transactions are then processed through Barclaycard’s transit enabled systems and the customer is billed with a single amount while also price-matching the Oyster system. Transactions which appear on the cardholder’s debit or credit card statement are clearly identified and, unlike Oyster, no topping-up is required.