Can you let me know for the latest practical period (3 months or 1 year is fine) what proportion of payments to TfL are made by: Cash Card Contactless Apply Pay Any other relevant methods.

---

Our Ref:         FOI-1049-1718

Thank you for your e-mail received on 2 August 2017 asking for information about payments made to TfL.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we hold some of the information you require. You asked for:

Can you let me know for the latest practical period (3 months or 1 year is fine) what proportion of payments to TfL are made by:
• Cash
• Card
• Contactless
• Apply Pay
• Any other relevant methods

Please note that there are some limitations with the data we have available. Some of the payments we receive are via Train Operating Companies, and we have no record of whether those tickets were payed for in cash or by bank card.

Other payments are from Oyster Ticket Stops (newsagents, etc where customers can buy Oyster season tickets and Pay As You Go top-ups). We believe most of these are paid for in cash, but we cannot provide a breakdown. We are also unable to break down payments by customers using mobile devices to travel (i.e. break them down by Apple Pay, Android Pay etc.).

In terms of the analyses available, some of the data we have is in terms of transactions, some in terms of journeys, and some in terms of receipts.

You may not find the number of transactions of any particular interest, as it is not necessarily indicative of the amount of travel. In the following table, one transaction using cash (for example) could relate to a top-up just sufficient for a single journey, whereas one transaction using a credit card (for example) could relate to the purchase of a top-up that might cover 15 or more journeys.

Number of Oyster PAYG top-ups by Payment Method (direct to TfL, rather than to newsagents etc.)   

12 months starting July 2016 Cash Credit Card Debit Card Cheque Other (including payment using mobile) Total
Total for the year 129,403,702 61,611,432 6,840,428 224,597 12,573,251 210,653,410
Proportions 61.4% 29.2% 3.2% 0.1% 6.0% 100%
A better guide to what you are looking for is this breakdown by journey, as this is closely related to how much is spent overall using different payment method. However, the following analysis available is only for Underground, and does not distinguish between cash and card purchases.
Number of journeys (000) on the Underground by Payment Method

12 months starting July 2016 Oyster journeys Contactless Payment Card (CPC) journeys Contactless mobile device journeys Total
Total for the year 1,159,080 253,358 20,790 1,433,228
Proportions 80.9% 17.7% 1.5% 100.0%
Finally, an analysis which helps give an idea of the breakdown between cash and card purchases. These are receipts (sales) on the Underground, including purchases of Travelcards as well as pay as you go (PAYG) top-ups, but they will also cover parts of journeys made on National Rail. Note that ‘Bank Card’ excludes journeys using CPCs and mobiles.
Total receipts collected (£000) on the Underground by Payment Method

12 months starting April 2016 Cash Bank Card Total
Total for the year 339,255 1,345,958 1,685,213
Proportions 20.1% 79.9% 100.0%

If this is not the information you are looking for please feel free to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Gemma Jacob
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London

[email protected]

Back to top

---