National Express West Midlands has started a contactless payment trial on its Birmingham-Airport-Coventry and Birmingham-Solihull routes X1 and X2.
Tickets are cheaper using contactless. A peak Daysaver costs £4 instead of £4.60. A single ticket for longer journeys in Birmingham costs £2.10 instead of £2.40.
The technology for this trial is a simpler form of National Express West Midlands’ new ticketing machines.
The state-of-the-art technology will start appearing on Coventry buses later this year, followed by the rest of the West Midlands 1,600-strong fleet over the next two years.
Peter Coates, National Express West Midlands MD says: “The trial is going well. Drivers tell me that passengers boarding at the airport are using the new card readers.
“We think people who’ve just arrived in Birmingham need an alternative to cash payments – they may not have the right change or even the right currency.
“They’ve also seen our customers making contactless transactions in Birmingham, Coventry and Solihull town centres.
"We know from running the Midland Metro tram that our customers like contactless. Over 20% of tickets sold on the trams are bought using contactless. Over two thirds of our customers tell us they like it because it's quicker."
