Tap on tap off now on all routes

The easiest and quickest way to pay for your journey is tap on tap off, which is being made available with our new ticket machines which will be seen on buses from 16th November.

With tap on tap off, you no longer need to worry about choosing the correct ticket for your journey; this will automatically be done for you as you travel.

All our routes will feature tap on tap off. The only exceptions are our football services.

the simple way to pay

how does it work?

When you get on, simply tap your contactless bank card or mobile device on the reader. You won’t need to ask the driver for a ticket or say where you are heading – but you can always say hello!

There’s no ticket to take, so just find yourself a seat and enjoy the journey.

When you get to your stop, simply tap off with the same card or mobile device that you used when getting on using the reader located by the door.

At the end of the day our system will automatically work out how many buses you have travelled on that day and charge you accordingly – always capping the price at the day ticket rate.

It’s important to remember to always tap on and tap off otherwise you may find yourself charged more for your journey.

avoiding card clash

If you are paying with a physical card, you should always make sure you take it out of your wallet or purse to avoid ‘card clash’ – where the system is trying to read more than one card at a time. If you don’t take your card out, the system may charge the wrong card resulting in you paying more or it might simply not work, delaying your journey.

what is the most I’ll pay?

That depends on the zone you are travelling in.

For example, if you only travel on one bus within our simplyMaidenhead zone, it’ll just charge you for the first journey. If you then travel on another bus also within the same zone and the total comes to more than the daily cap, it will cap your total for the day at £5.20 – which is the app price for a simplyMaidenhead day ticket.  For a limited time, the cap is being set at the price paid on our app, rather than the on-bus price.

Any additional journeys within the simplyMaidenhead zone for the day won’t be charged as they are all included in your £5.20 day ticket.

Tap on, tap off works around our entire network too. A single ticket for any journey will cost no more than £3 and will cap at the day ticket rate for the zone you are in – see the table below for prices in each area.

keep track of your spending

We’ve made it super easy to keep track of your journeys and how much you have spent on tickets for the day.

On our mobile app, you will be able to go to Contactless Journeys from the main menu or the Contactless Journeys link at the top of the page on our website.

Here you will be able to find a list of your recent journeys and payment history as well as being able to download a PDF receipt.

You will need to be logged in to our website or app in order to view this section and the first time you use it you will need to add your payment card in order to see the history for it.

travel more often?

For now, tap on tap off offers the best value for travel during any one single day. If you travel on most days of the week your best bet may still be a weekly, monthly or longer-term ticket bought on the Thames Valley Buses app or smartcard.

Boost tickets will also still need to be purchased from the driver or on the app as present as tap on tap off only offers adult fares.

other ways to pay

Alongside tap on tap off, tickets can still be purchased from the driver with cash or contactless as well as on our app, and smartcards can still be used as normal too.

If you are an ENCTS (English National Concessionary travel scheme) passholders, you can continue to your pass as before.

Frequently asked questions

Check out our tap on tap off frequently asked questions page here.