How TfL’s simple pop-up message led to a significant drop in paper ticket sales
Transport for London (TfL) has seen a drop in the sale of paper tickets after it made a small change to the ticket machines in London Underground stations.
The change took place last September during a routine fares update to the ticket machines, and the sales of paper tickets dropped overnight by around a third compared to how many were being sold before.
The change was deliberate, intended to reduce the sale of paper tickets by encouraging people to use contactless payments instead. These are cheaper for the customer and mean fewer magnetic stripe paper ticket sales for TfL.
It followed staff observations that people were requesting single or return paper tickets but then paying for them with a contactless card — so why not encourage them to use the contactless card at the ticket barrier instead?
What TfL has done is add a pop-up message on the ticket-selling machines, so if you try to buy a single or return ticket instead of a travelcard, it will suggest using a contactless card instead.
