Works well on Android pay on London also

> Used it last week with Apple Pay on my Phone, worked great!

Do be aware that if your phone battery runs out you may have to pay a penalty fare.

Also be aware that the hash for each ApplePay instance of the same card is unique, so you have to use the same device when tapping out that you did when tapping in (or all day in order to hit the cap).

It's also worth priming your device (double tap home button from lock screen) and authenticating before you reach the gate. You don't want to hold up the 50 stressed commuters behind you fiddling with your phone.

Though I often do it anyway, I actually find that the priming thing is troublesome for me, I often end up unlocking my phone by accident and spending much more time trying to fix that. Better to just put it up to the reader with your finger over the sensor, it automatically brings the payment screen up and then insta-authorises with the fingerprint. (the payment screen activates if it detects an NFC terminal)

So, realistically, what value does paying with your phone add over an Oyster or contactless card?

Sure, you might claim that I'm more likely to forget my Oyster than my phone, but I'm also much less likely to run out of power on the Oyster.

For me it was a few things:

- I normally have my phone in my hand anyway. - My phone is in a pocket by it's self, so there is less risk of pulling out keys, coins, or notes along with my wallet. - I have many contact-less cards, so would have to pull the right one out of my wallet. - I would then have to put everything back, and go back to getting out my phone. - I get an apple pay notification ever evening when my card is charged, so I can easily tell if I have been over charged and get a refund.

> what value does paying with your phone add over an Oyster

Phones and contactless payments actually do the fare-capping calculations slightly differently - if you do a "commute into London, then around London a bunch, then back" travel pattern, it can purchase a virtual central-London travelcard in the middle of the day, and adjust the commute-in payment retroactively. If you want that fare treatment with Oyster then you need to get the travelcard option loaded on it in advance.

> or contactless

modestly better security

Probably none

This "contactless phone payment" seems more like a gimmick than anything else

actually it makes total sense for foreign travelers, who can immediately travel without finding a suitable location to purchase an Oyster card (for 5GBP), worrying about how much balance to put on it (being a tourist, I had no idea) and then waiting in line for over 30 minutes to return it (and get whatever was remaining as a refund) when I was done.

I actually had to do all of these things, because the first set of machines I ran into (and then used to purchase an Oyster card) didn't have signs about being able to use contactless now.. all of those signs were around the corner :-)

London is lucky enough to (at least for the underground) allow cash or EFT fares at the stations, in some hostile cities like Sydney you cannot catch a bus without a pre-purchased multi rider card which you can only buy from certain outlets.. you can not pay cash on board. Combining the inefficiencies of avoiding cash on rides with the global standard of contact less payments makes total sense to me

Might be easier for tourists yes, but I just get the Oyster card last time I was there

I have at least eight cards of unknown value from different times I've been to Atlanta, and had to leave the airport on the train, which requires you to buy a transit card. Somehow I never remember this is a thing.

A phone replaces all this just like FiveStars replaced carrying point cards.

If you use the underground in central london on a weekday there's a fair chance you'll be paying the maximum fare anyway

The penalty "maximum fare" doesn't count towards the fare cap so you will end up paying the maximum fare twice.