Nottingham Council have introduced a new Oyster-style contactless ticketing system, which is the first in the country outside of London. 
The new Nottingham Contactless multi-operator Tap & Go will allow people to tap on with contactless bank cards or phones throughout the day and pay one daily charge capped at the best fare for their travel, regardless of which of the three operators they use or however many journeys they make on the day.
The City Council successfully bid for £2.7m from the Department for Transport’s National Productivity Fund and Transforming Cities Programme to develop the technology. The main benefits are:
- Effortless cashless payments
- No fumbling for change or having to find out fares for each operator before travelling
- Fares capped at the best for the day’s travel across three main local operators
- Quicker boarding will help make public transport an even more attractive option.
Since Nottingham Contactless launched for journeys on individual operators, there have been three million taps and this new additional multi-operator capping is designed to encourage people to travel more easily and flexibly.
The system has been developed by INIT. This stage of the new system’s development lays the foundation for future rollout across the wider city region and to more operators. The City Council is working with the DfT and regional partners including Transport for the West Midlands and Midlands Connect to integrate all operators.
The City Council’s Portfolio Holder for Local Transport, Councillor Rosemary Healy, said: “We have been working towards a multi-operator contactless and capped payment option for a number of years now, to make using our wonderful public transport network as simple and stress-free as possible. It’s something we may have experienced in other great cities and I’m really pleased we are now offering it to people visiting, living and working in Nottingham.
“The new system will always give the best value for passengers, providing an extra reason for even more people to choose our award-winning green public transport services. This in turn helps Nottingham continue to grow sustainably.”