Transport for London today announced it would launch acceptance for open-loop bank cards and other contactless payment on its heavily traveled London Underground and other modes of transit in September, while the UK’s largest mobile operator, EE, announced customers could begin to tap their NFC phones to pay fares at the same time. 

A spokeswoman for Transport for London told NFC Times that the transit authority believes both contactless bank cards and similar applets on NFC phones are now fast enough to allow customers to flow through busy metro turnstiles without breaking stride. Authority officials had expressed doubts in the past that NFC technology was fast enough. 

Mobile operator EE, formerly known as Everything Everywhere, today said its Cash on Tap NFC payments service using a prepaid MasterCard PayPass application, would be accepted on the Underground, along with trams and light rail in and around the capital. London buses would also accept both contactless bank cards and NFC phones in September, the transit authority spokeswoman said, although the telco did not include buses in its announcement today of the service. Prepaid open-loop cards haven’t been accepted on the buses to date.