Contactless Payment Cards - Conditions of Use

1. Introduction

1.1 These Conditions of use apply to you when you are using a contactless payment card or device to pay for travel on Edinburgh Trams and/or Lothian Buses services. These Conditions of Use set out your rights and obligations when using contactless payments and apply in addition to each operator’s Conditions of Carriage, the most up to date versions of which can be found on each operator’s website.

Edinburgh Trams Conditions of Carriage

Lothian Buses Conditions of Carriage

1.2 For the purposes of these Conditions, Lothian Buses services refers to all Lothian Group and subsidiary services which are specified as offering TapTapCap at lothianbuses.com.

1.3 Edinburgh Trams and Lothian Buses reserves the right to amend these Conditions at any time. The most up to date version can be found on each operator’s website.

2. Capped Contactless Payments

2.1 Capped contactless payments refers to the use of a contactless payment card or device to pay for individual adult travel where fares are automatically aggregated each day and, if eligible, capped, depending on the number of journeys made in a certain period(s) or zone(s) and the service(s) used.

2.2 Our capped contactless payment scheme includes journeys successfully recorded on Edinburgh Trams and Lothian Buses services and may be referred to as TapTapCap or Tap on, Tap off (ToTo).

2.3 Daily capping resets at 4am each morning. Weekly capping runs Monday to Sunday and resets at 00:00 on Monday.

2.4 The merchant for payment of capped contactless journeys as it will appear on your card-issuer statement is Lothian Buses Limited.

2.5 We will endeavour to ensure that contactless payment is available but will not be liable for any failure to provide these services, in part or in full. This includes any suspension of contactless payment because of maintenance or upgrades to our or any third-party systems.

2.6 It is your responsibility to check the fare for your journey before you travel. Full fare information is available online at edinburghtrams.com and lothianbuses.com.

2.7 Capping is applied to the contactless payment card or device used. You must use the same card or device for all journeys, in order that payment for those journeys is capped. Capping cannot be applied to the use of both a card and a device (even if they are funded by the same bank account), nor can it be applied to the use of multiple cards or devices.

2.8 If you are using a contactless payment device, you will need sufficient battery charge for all your journeys, in order that payment for those journeys is capped.

2.9 Only one person can travel per contactless payment card or device using capped contactless payments. Additional tickets can be purchased using the same card or device (without capping) from the Ticket Vending Machine at each stop for Edinburgh Trams, or on request from your bus driver for Lothian Buses.

2.10 When you tap your contactless payment card or device on the card reader you are giving authorisation for the cost of your journey, including any unpaid fares, to be charged to the card account.

2.11 You must only present a single contactless card or device on the card reader. If you place more than one contactless card or device near the card reader, your journey and/or payment may not be recorded correctly.

2.12 We request payment for your journey(s) after you have completed your journey(s). The amount charged to your card account will be the fare(s) appropriate for the services and zones you used and/or any unpaid fares owing.

2.13 You can view your journey and payment history for the past twenty eight days using the customer portal linked to on each operator’s website. If you use Apple Pay or Google Pay exclusively, you may not see your journey history in the portal, but this can be requested from our Customer Support teams.

3. Using your contactless payment card or device on Edinburgh Trams (Tap on, Tap off)

3.1 You must ‘tap on’ by successfully tapping your contactless payment card or device on the Platform Validator at the start of each journey, before boarding the tram. If you board the tram without a successful tap, you will be charged equivalent to the on-board fare having boarded without a valid ticket. On-board fares are not included in capping.

3.2 When asked by a Ticketing Services Assistant on board the tram, you will be required to tap the same contactless payment card or device on their Handheld Device.

3.3 You must ‘tap off’ upon reaching your destination stop by successfully tapping the same contactless payment card or device on the Platform Validator at the stop to end your journey. If the card is not tapped off within 90 minutes of tapping on, the journey is registered as incomplete and you will be charged equivalent to the maximum adult single fare. Maximum fares are not included in capping.

3.4 A positive beep and a green light means that your contactless payment card has been accepted for travel. A red light means your contactless payment card has been rejected. You cannot travel until either your contactless payment card has been accepted by the Platform Validator or you have paid for your journey by a different means, otherwise the on-board fare for travelling without a valid ticket will apply.

4. Using your contactless card or device on Lothian Buses services (TapTapCap)

4.1 You must tap your contactless payment card or device on the card reader at the start of each journey. On services which have more than one Adult Single fare, you must state your intended destination before tapping your card – on these services a ticket will be issued which should be retained for the duration of your journey.

4.2 A positive beep means that your contactless payment card has been accepted for travel. A red light, accompanied by two negative beeps, means your contactless payment card has been rejected. You cannot travel until either your contactless payment card has been accepted by the card reader, or you have paid for your journey by a different means.

4.3 You may be required to show your contactless payment card, and/or ticket if one was issued, to a Company official during your journey if asked to do so.

5. Declined transactions

5.1 We request payment for your journey(s) after you have completed your journey(s). If a payment is declined, the contactless card or device used will be prevented from acceptance on Edinburgh Trams or Lothian Buses services until any unpaid fares have been paid in full and/or we have received a successful authorisation from your bank.

5.3 If a payment is declined, we may seek to take payment again on a number of additional occasions until we receive the full payment, in accordance with the schedule agreed with the card schemes for recovering unpaid fares in the Contactless Transit Framework. The next time you attempt to use your contactless payment card or device on our services, we will seek to collect any unpaid fares.

6. Privacy

6.1 All payment card data, including those details entered via the customer portal, is secured at the point of entry using the latest encryption technologies, in accordance with PCI data security standards. We do not store personal data against contactless payment card use. Journeys associated with a contactless payment card can be viewed in the customer portal for 28 days.

7. Refunds

7.1 If you have used your contactless payment card or device but have paid more than the advertised fare for the journey(s) made, Edinburgh Trams or Lothian Buses may refund the amount overpaid subject to you successfully recording the journey(s). We may do this automatically, otherwise you will have to contact Customer Support.

7.2 If you are travelling on Edinburgh Trams and are unable to Tap off to end your journey through extenuating circumstances such as emergency situations which require users to leave a tram without being at a stop, please contact Customer Support.