TRAVELLERS arriving at London Stansted Airport via train will soon be able to pay by Oyster Card, Apple Pay or bank card.
Currently, people heading to the airport have to buy a ticket and cannot rely on tapping in and out with contactless payments, as they do throughout the rest of the capital.
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However, that will change from the second half of next year, the Department for Transport has announced.
The change to the system will bring a welcome relief to passengers, as thousands have been fined after they didn’t realise the rules.
Passengers every day try to use their contactless cards on trains from Liverpool Street and Tottenham Hale, only to discover they cannot use them to tap out once they arrive at Stansted.
According to watchdog London TravelWatch, as many as 16,000 people were fined for not having the correct ticket at the airport station in 2019.
Those without a valid ticket are warned that they may be charged a penalty fare “of at least £100”, but most users of the London transport system assume that the system reaches the whole of the network.
But from next year, the airport will be included in the growing “pay as you go” network across London and the south east.
It will be one of a further 45 stations to be included in the network, as part of a £27m government-funded expansion.
Currently Stansted is the only station to have been announced as part of next year’s additions.
In the meantime, 47 other stations are set to join the network this month, on September 22.
They include stations in Surrey, Hertfordshire and Berkshire, among other places.
There will be other financial benefits for passengers being able to finally use contactless payments on the route to Stansted as well.
Price caps mean people making several rail journeys, or a mixture of rail, bus and tram journeys in one day, don’t pay more than a set amount.
On the London transport network, the contactless cap works out as better value than buying a Day Travelcard in for zones 1-9.
‘A welcome move – but still a long while to wait for passengers’
The Sun’s Head Of Travel Lisa Minot says the new system cannot come soon enough for passengers…
CONTACTLESS train travel to Stansted Airport is a welcome move – it’s just a shame passengers will have to wait until the second half of next year to reap the benefits.
Thousands have already been penalised for not realising that bank cards cannot be used to travel to London’s third largest airport and advance tickets must be bought online or in person instead.
With contactless already the norm on journeys to Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton, it is no wonder so many have been caught out when travelling to Stansted.
The new system cannot come soon enough.
As well as reducing queues for tickets, passengers using the contactless system will benefit from price capping on their onward journeys by tube or bus in the capital.
And with ever-increasing charges for drop off and pick up at our airports, as well as pricey parking, it seems the obvious move to make train travel to all our major hubs simple and easy.
Greater Anglia, who operate the service between London and Stansted Airport revealed that the contactless payment option would be introduced “in the second half of 2025”.
The airport welcomed its addition to the contactless network and said they wanted it to happen sooner rather than later.
A spokesperson told the Evening Standard: “We have been supportive of Stansted Express customers being able to use contactless to and from London Stansted for a number of years and are pushing for it to happen as soon as possible.
“We are the third largest airport in the London system and the second biggest gateway to the capital for European visitors.
“This makes us a major enabler of inbound tourism so more seamless rail travel between the airport and London Liverpool Street, enabled by contactless, would dramatically improve our passengers’ experience.”
Airport rules coming back for passengers
Passengers across Europe once again have to deal with strict liquid rules at the airport.
The installation of new security scanners was due to significantly change things for travellers and, hopefully, make passing through airports a much smoother process.
This would mean travellers could take more than one bag of 100ml liquids in their hand luggage as well as leave laptops and tablets in bags.
However the old 100ml rules were reintroduced across the board on September 1.
The restrictions are set to stay in place for an indefinite period of time, with no date yet announced for them to be lifted again.
They could be set to stay in place for a while too, with the EU wanting more consistency to the technology throughout its airports.
This is to make it easier for passengers to know what the rules are when taking liquids through airports.
All airports operating inside the 27 EU member states, as well as Iceland, Switzerland and Norway, now need to comply with the original rules.
Several airports in the UK, as well as a few in Europe, like Munich Airport, Rome Fiumicino Airport, Milano Malpensa Airport and Frankfurt Airport already have the new scanners in place.
For now holidaymakers have to stick to the rules as they had before, even at airports with the new machines in place.
Meanwhile, this major UK airport is set to undergo a huge expansion.
And this European airport has announced its own plans to serve even more passengers.
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