A record number of passengers are using smartphones or smart watches to travel on the Tube, Transport for London revealed on Friday.
It said around 485,000 journeys a day are made by using the devices – rather than an Oyster card or contactless bank card - to pass through the ticket barriers.
This is more than a quarter of daily adult pay-as-you-go journeys, and about 85,000 more a day than pre-pandemic levels. It shows how Londoners have embraced new technology to speed up their journeys.
But it came as London’s passenger watchdog warned that passengers can end up being charged twice if they touch in with their phone and out with their watch, or vice versa – even if the same bank card is registered to both devices.
This is because each device carries a separate “code” – and the ticket barriers think that two separate, incomplete journeys have been made.
Passengers are then charged the maximum fare twice. About 30 per cent of incomplete Oyster journeys and 50 per cent of contactless journeys are corrected automatically or after a refund request.
Overall, TfL said about 25 per cent of pay-as-you-go journeys were made using a smartphone or watch, 46 per cent using contactless bank cards and 29 per cent using an Oyster card.
London’s use of contactless travel began in 2012 and built on the success of the Oyster card that was first introduced in 2003. New York, Chicago and Sydney were among the world cities to follow London’s lead on contactless.
Foreign passengers from more than 180 countries have now used contactless cards or mobile devices to pay for Tube travel.
But about 25,000 journeys are still made using a paper ticket or Travelcard, despite these being more expensive.
King’s Cross station sells most paper tickets – including about 1,000 Travelcards a day. The ticket machines at London Bridge sell about 400 singles or returns and 150 Travelcards a day.
The figures were revealed as Google Pay launched a six-month campaign in conjunction with TfL at five key Tube stations to encourage passengers to switch to smart ticketing by adding a debit or credit card to Google Wallet.
Signage on ticket readers across the Tube network has been “refreshed” to emphasise contactless options.
Andrew Anderson, head of customer payments at TfL, said: “We are committed to making travel in London as easy as possible. Millions of journeys in and around London are now made using contactless every day – with close to half a million now made using mobile devices rather than a bank card.”
London TravelWatch began receiving complaints from passengers earlier this year about being charged twice on multiple occasions. Many did not discover the problem for some time – in part, because the ticket gates open even if the “wrong” smart device is used.
Joanna Davidson, chief executive of London TravelWatch said: “We’d like TfL to work with the issuing banks to see if this issue can be resolved in the interests of hard-pressed passengers where every penny really does count right now.
“We don’t think it should matter if the devices being used are different, only that the same registered bank account is paying for the journey.”
A TfL spokesman said: “All customers using pay as you go are required to touch in and out using the same card or mobile device to ensure that they pay the correct fare and avoid incomplete journeys.
This is particularly important when using mobile devices as each device is treated uniquely regardless whether part of a wider digital payment system. Where customers believe they have been overcharged, we are always happy to investigate and refund where we can.”
