Apple Pay on London Transit
 

Considering using Apple Pay to ride Tube and buses for upcoming long weekend in London. As per the TFL website it works like an Oyster card, complete with capping daily charges.

I'm US-based---does anybody here have firsthand experience, specifically re possible issue of foreign transaction fees?

Any contactless card will work.

Theoretically it should work, since the tube takes contactless cards, but when I tried Apple Pay with my iPhone at the Heathrow tube station it refused to take it. Not wishing to hold up passengers behind me, I switched to a contactless card.

I have a US credit card in my Apple Pay wallet, and it works everywhere else I've tried it in the UK, so can't explain why it didn't work on the tube. Perhaps it was a one-off situation.

When you are at a busy tube station other passengers won't thank you if you hold them up at the turnstile, so try it first somewhere quiet. Remember to use it again when getting off or you will be charged the maximum fare.

Tried to use ours last week in London for a taxi, didn’t work, gave up and just charged it the regular way.

I looked it up for my last trip- the consensus on TA was that it didn't work with Visa but worked sometimes for people who have Amex or MC. I think Oyster card is easier and faster anyway. (I use visa, system refused it, didn't have MC or Amex to test).

Foreign transaction fees depend entirely on the card you use and its terms of service. Every time your card is charged, you get them.

Oysters are so easy/pain free I wouldn't bother w/ ApplePay.

Hi Alec, I read that TfL page before trying Apple Pay on the tube, and was surprised when it didn't work the way TfL says it should. I can just imagine the queue of frustrated Londoners in a hurry, behind someone unsuccessfully trying to pay with their iPhone or Apple Watch!

US credit cards, as far as I know, don't have the contactless feature, so for them Oyster is the way to go. I use Apple Pay just about everywhere in the UK these days, including restaurants and shopping trips to Waitrose. If anyone reading this has been able to get Apple Pay to work on the tube please reply, and perhaps I will try it again.