For me as a part-time geek, one of the coolest things about London public transport was the possibility to just tab the yellow card reader with my contactless credit or debit card and never have to buy a ticket again.

Instead of using the Oyster Card which you had to top up manually at the ticket machines but also work with RFID (wireless technology that reads the information on the card in milliseconds), you are able to just use your very own personal credit/ debit card.

Even with Apple Pay on my iPhone 6 it works just fine. Great stuff, London Transport!

An important note

Be careful when you have multiple contactless cards in your wallet, there might be a card clash and you risk being charged a wrong (higher) fare – when you sign out with another card that you signed in with, for example. They’ll be sure to charge you the maximum fare if you mix it up, so be careful and don’t tap your whole wallet or iPhone case with credit cards attached to it.

You also have the possibility to register your credit card with TFL (Transport for London). I did that (even as a non-UK citizen that’s possible) because I wanted my company’s billing address on the invoice you get then. Otherwise the charges will only appear on your credit card statement.

// Tickets for the Tube London: Wireless payment with TFL