Scousers to go contactless on the buses

'Wave and pay' tech of the kind seen in London's Oyster card is now on its way to Liverpool.

Scousers are set to use contactless bankcards on a number of buses in Merseyside, following the announcement of a pilot of the technology by Stagecoach, MasterCard and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

As part of the trial, MasterCard PayPass cardholders will be able to pay for any ticket under £10 by tapping their NFC-enabled bankcard against an on-board reader, as well as paying for small purchases at any retailers that carry the PayPass reader.

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The Liverpool trial, scheduled to last for a year, will see 200 buses from 11 routes fitted with contactless card tech.

Londoners are already able to use their credit cards to pay contactlessly for their transport, after Barclaycard launched its OnePulse card last year, which packs both credit card and Oyster card functionality.

The card company is currently in negotiations to add more retailers and plans to expand its range of contactless cards.

Meanwhile, Transport for London is also exploring adding more contactless payments methods, with a trial of Oyster-enabled mobile phones.