Passengers will soon be able to pay for journeys on London’s Tube, DLR and Overground trains with contactless bank cards and some mobile phones.

Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed that from 16 September, contactless payments can be used alongside the current Oyster card system across the capital.

But travellers have been warned to make sure that only one card touches the ticket barrier reader as they pass through, to avoid so-called ‘card clash’ – when gates do not open or the wrong card is charged.

For customers making multiple trips, the same daily price capping scheme for Oyster will apply to contactless and mobile payments, so passengers do not pay more than the cost of a daily travelcard.

However, TfL confirmed that a new weekly price cap would also now apply to people using contactless cards and the EE mobile app.

Contactless payments have been available on London buses since December 2012, and have been used by around 825,000 customers for 17 million journeys. Just this month, the capital’s buses stopped accepting cash altogether.

TfL said that the extension of contactless payments across other modes of transport followed a pilot with 3,000 passengers earlier this year.

Shashi Verma, TfL’s director of customer experience, explained: “Offering the option of contactless payments will make it easier and more convenient for customers to pay for their travel, freeing them of the need to top up Oyster credit and helping them get on board without delay.

“The pilot has been a success, with participants giving us really useful feedback. This is the latest step in making life easier for our customers by using modern technology to offer the best service possible.”

All UK-issued contactless American Express, MasterCard or Visa credit, debit, pre-paid or charge payment cards will be accepted. Only one charge per day will be sent to the bank or financial provider for payment.

Visa predicted that one million contactless journeys would be made with Visa cards in the first week of the September launch.

In terms of mobile, currently only EE customers will be able to use their smartphones to make countless payments on London transport, through the operator’s Cash on Tap app. Available on Android, EE said that the app would be compatible with over 500,000 customer handsets by the end of the year.

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