Updated: February 2021
1. Introduction
1.1. These Conditions of use apply to you when you are using a contactless payment card or device to pay for travel on Lothian services. These Conditions of Use set out your rights and obligations when using a contactless payment card and apply in addition to other Conditions of Carriage. See our Conditions of Carraige here.
1.2. For the purposes of these Conditions, a contactless payment card is a card or any device that is used to make contactless payments and which is used for travel on Lothian services.
1.3. Lothian reserve the right to amend these Conditions at any time. The most up to date version can be found online at lothianbuses.com.
1.4. There are two ways to use a contactless payment card on Lothian services which, for the purposes of these Conditions, are referred to as TapTapCap and Retail Mode.
2. TapTapCap
2.1. TapTapCap refers to the use of a contactless payment card to pay for individual adult travel where fares are automatically aggregated and capped, depending on the number of journeys made in a certain period(s) or zone(s).
2.2. It is your responsibility to check the fare for your journey before you travel. Full fare information is available online at lothianbuses.com, or the fare can be requested from the driver.
2.3. You must tap your contactless payment card on the card reader at the start of each journey. When using TapTapCap on a service which has more than one Adult Single fare, you must state your intended destination before tapping your contactless payment card and you will receive a ticket showing which zone(s) you can travel in.
2.4. When you tap your contactless payment card on the card reader you are giving authorisation for the cost of your journey, including any unpaid fares, to be charged to the card account.
2.5. We will charge the fares(s) for the journey(s) to your account after you have completed your journey(s) for that day. The amount charged to your card account will be the fare(s) appropriate for the services and zones you actually used and/or any unpaid fares owing.
2.6. Capping is applied to the contactless payment card or device used, not to the funding account. If you have more than one contactless payment card or device and wish to benefit from capping, you must choose which card or device you wish to use and continue to use the same card or device to pay for any further journeys during the capping period.
2.7. Only one person per contactless payment card or device can be used for TapTapCap travel. If you need to pay for another person’s fare with your contactless card as well as your own, you can tap your card once to record a TapTapCap journey for yourself and then request a ticket from the driver for the other person.
2.8. A positive beep means that your contactless payment card has been accepted for travel. A red light, accompanied by two negative beeps, means your contactless payment card has been rejected. You cannot travel until either your contactless payment card has been accepted for travel or you have paid for your journey by a different means.
2.9. Damaged contactless payment cards may not be accepted.
2.10. You may be required to show your contactless payment card, and/or ticket if one was issued, to a Company official during your journey if asked to do so.
2.11. You can see a history of your journeys and payments using the customer portal. To view your journey history, you must provide your contactless payment card number, the expiry date and the card security code (CVC). Your journey history will show your journey and payment history for the past seven days. If you use Apple Pay or Google Pay you cannot currently access the portal, but we are working on providing this functionality.
3. Retail Mode
3.1. Retail Mode refers to the purchasing of paper ticket(s) paid for using a contactless payment card.
3.2. You must request the ticket(s) from the driver prior to tapping your contactless payment card. Tickets purchased using Retail Mode are not subject to capping – it is your responsibility to purchase the appropriate ticket(s).
3.3. We will charge your card account with the fare(s) that you have requested from the driver.
4. Declined transactions
4.1. If your contactless payment card is declined when we submit it for payment, you will not be permitted to travel on our services using that contactless payment card until any unpaid fares have been paid in full and we have received a successful authorisation from your bank.
4.2. The next time you attempt to use your contactless payment card for a TapTapCap journey we will attempt to collect any unpaid fares and will seek an authorisation from your bank.
4.3. If your contactless payment card is declined when we submit it for payment, we may seek to take payment again on a number of additional occasions until we receive the full payment. We will not seek payment on more than three occasions nor more than once a day nor for longer than 30 days after your payment was declined.
5. Privacy
5.1. All payment card data, including those details entered via the customer portal, is secured at the point of entry using the latest encryption technologies, in accordance with PCI data security standards. We do not store personal data against contactless payment card use. Journeys associated with a contactless payment card can be viewed in the customer portal for 28 days.
6. Refunds
6.1. If you have used your contactless payment card but have paid more than the advertised fare for the journey(s) actually made, Lothian may refund the amount overpaid subject to you having tapped upon boarding as required. Lothian may do this automatically, otherwise you will have to contact Customer Support. An overpayment slip is available from the driver on request.
7. Getting in touch
Customer Portal: https://abt.cloudfare.co.uk/
Fares Information: https://www.lothianbuses.com/tickets/, or 0131 555 6363
Customer Support: https://www.lothianbuses.com/customer-support/