The secret behind seamless travel on public transport

The next time you board a bus and tap your bank card against the reader, count the seconds. You may notice the green light flashes at the three-second mark. In fact, you might have spotted that contactless payments on transport are significantly faster than settling a bill at a restaurant or paying for your weekly grocery shop. The secret behind this speed? Littlepay.

Think of Littlepay as the clever middleman software connecting a vehicle’s card reader to the transport network’s banking system. Instead of the five to 10-second wait for the card machine to communicate with your bank, Littlepay doesn’t process the payment immediately. Instead, it registers an authorised hold (a temporary reservation of funds) and waits for you to complete your journey – keeping your bus or train on time too.

How does Littlepay work?

Different systems use different payment methods. For example, one is a closed-loop payment card that can only be used at a specific merchant – like an Oyster card for Transport for London’s network – while another is open-loop payments, which transfer funds between the merchant’s and customer’s banks via card networks to provide security and fraud prevention. This latter method is commonly used in restaurants and shops. Littlepay uses open-loop contactless ticketing, which doesn’t require you to insert your card and your PIN. This is vital in a world where 50% of global in-person transactions are contactless, according to Mastercard.

In 2016, Littlepay set out to build the foundations of a simple solution for public transport operators. Today, the company works with more than 400 transport and mobility providers in more than 30 countries, including the Go-Ahead Group, one of the UK’s major public transport providers, which it has partnered with since 2017.