MasterCard Is Bringing Back Free Tube Travel With Apple Pay

IPhone and Apple Watch users will be able to travel for free over the next three Mondays

London’s tech-savvy commuters will be able to travel for free across the Transport for London (TfL) network tube, rail and bus network on Monday 29 February if the use a MasterCard account linked to Apple Pay.

The scheme will also be active for the succeeding three mondays as the payments firm looks to encourage the use of Apple’s mobile payment platform.

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apple pay uk3To be eligible, users will need to have a MasterCard linked to their Apple Pay Wallet on their iOS device, and then touch in and out with this device at any time on Monday 29 February, Monday 7 March and Monday 14 March.

The service can be used multiple times across the Tube, Overground, Bus, TfL Rail and river boat services up to a value of £28.10, which will then be refunded to the user’s MasterCard account.

The full list of applicable devices for the scheme is the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus, Apple Watch, iPad Pro, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 4, and iPad mini 3.

TfL’s services have proved to be one of the most popular use cases for mobile payments in the UK, as commuters look for a quicker way to pay for their travel.

According to the recent TfL report, the average number of journeys made using mobile devices has increased from 7,500 a day to more than 35,000, with more than 200,000 unique devices used to make trips over the past six months – an increase of 1,000 devices per day.

This is a rise of over 360 percent since Apple Pay’s launch in the UK last July, which the report suggests was a major driver behind the growth.

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