This major London airport is finally getting contactless payments for train tickets next month

Finally, Stansted Airport is catching up with the rest of London’s airports and introducing contactless ticketing at its rail station. 

The arrival of pay-as-you-go contactless payments at Stansted is a big deal because thousands of Stansted Express passengers travelling from Liverpool Street have wrongly assumed that they would be able to tap in and tap out, then fined up to £100. In 2019, watchdog London TravelWatch estimated that 16,000 travellers per year were being fined for not buying their ticket ahead of time.

The airport was supposed to launch its tap-in tap-out tech back in December but that was delayed because of software issues. Now, that problem has been fixed and the machines are ready to be rolled out. Here’s everything you need to know about the contactless ticketing coming to Stansted Airport. 

When is Stansted Airport getting contactless ticketing?

Passengers on the Stansted Express from London will be able to use contactless payments from Sunday March 8.  

Nineteen other stations in Hertfordshire and Essex, including Southend Airport, will also get contactless machines on the same day. 

How much will contactless tickets cost?  

The journey will still cost the same as a ticket bought on the day – around £21.90.

While it’ll certainly be the most convenient option, contactless tickets won’t be the cheapest option. If you book well in advance, you can get a Stansted Express ticket from just £9.90 and, if you have a railcard discount or concession rates, it will still be cheaper for you to buy a ticket in advance.

Keep in mind that contactless payments won’t work with Oyster cards, as Oyster technology is too old. Also, the tap-in, tap-out system will only apply to journeys from London, not Cambridge. 

Full list of stations getting contactless rail travel

These are the 20 stations that’ll accept tap-in tap-out payments from March 8. 

• Billericay
• Beaulieu Park
• Bishop’s Stortford
• Chelmsford
• Harlow Mill
• Harlow Town
• Hatfield Peverel
• Hockley
• Ingatestone
• Prittlewell
• Rayleigh
• Rochford
• Roydon
• Sawbridgeworth
• Stansted Airport
• Southend Victoria
• Stansted Mountfitchet
• Wickford
• Witham
• Southend Airport

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