Glaswegians! It’s finally time to do away with your paper subway tickets and Smartcards – contactless payments on the subway are finally here.
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), the company that runs the city’s subway, will begin upgrading its 83 station gates over the next few months. The aim is to introduce contactless payments across the network by the end of 2025, and signs have been posted around the subway informing passengers to ‘get ready for contactless’ with QR codes instructing passengers to visit the SPT site to find out more.
Glasgow’s subway sees more than 13 million customer journeys each year. Queues for the ticket offices and machines will (hopefully) be a thing of the past as the subway gates begin to be fitted with new technology that allows customers to tap through the barriers with a debit card, credit card or mobile wallet.
Currently, adults pay £1.85 for a single, £3.50 for a return, and £4.45 for an all-day ticket in Glasgow. Children under the age of 16 pay £0.90, £1.65, and £2.20 respectively. Children under the age of five go free.
An SPT spokesperson said: ‘We are beginning to get our ticket gates ready to accept contactless payments. It will be in operation as soon as all ticket gates on the Subway system have been updated and all contactless testing has been completed.’
The topic of contactless payment gates was first discussed at an SPT strategy and programmes committee meeting in November 2023. A report explained that the cost of installing new smartcard readers and PCs under contract with Scheidt & Bachmann, a mobile fare collection system solutions company, would total £436,000.
This investment will also deliver other changes as part of a programme meant to modernise the whole Glasgow subway system. Other changes include: refurbishment of all 15 stations, new Smartcard ticketing, a new signalling and control system, as well as 17 new trains. You can read all about those swish and futuristic trains here.
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