Contactless help & FAQs

This is a cashless way to pay for your travel on the bus by using a card/device set up with contactless payment.

You can pay for a single journey or a Day Saver using contactless.

Make as many bus journeys as you like using the same card/device from Monday to Sunday and we will cap your payment to give you the best value for your travel.

Simply tap your contactless card/device to the reader, wait for the green screen and take a seat.

Don't forget
- No ticket will be printed
- You don't need to tap your card/device when you leave the bus
- You need to use the same card/device for every journey you make

Any Visa, Mastercard or Maestro contactless cards issued from the UK can use used on our services.

We do not accept the following, American Express, Diners Club, JCB or Union Pay


Overseas' cards
Fees or charges may apply if non UK cards are used, for further details please check with your bank.

Please visit our contactless page to track your payments.

You can use your contactless payment card/device to pay for travel on our services where contactless is accepted. You may not be able to use contactless on certain special services. These may include school services, sporting or leisure event services or specific works services.

If you tap your card/device and see a red screen, it has not been accepted by the reader. You can try to tap the card/device again after 5 seconds; however, if you get another red screen you will need to find a different way to pay for your journey.
Please do not try and tap a rejected card/device more than twice.

Our drivers will not know why your card/device has been rejected as there are many reasons this could happen, some of which may be:

Timed Out
PIN Required
Potential Fraud
Unrecognised Card Issuer
Low Funds
Reported Stolen
Card not recognised

You can only use one contactless card/device per customer.

If you want to pay for someone else's travel a different card/device must be used, please ensure the same payment method is used for all of their journeys.

No, unfortunately child tickets are not available on contactless at this time.

No, at the moment only adult single and Day Saver tickets can be bought using contactless.

Sometimes transactions are not communicated immediately if a bus cannot connect to the network. We will store the information until it is connected securely, this can lead to a higher charge than expected when the delayed payment is added. Please check your previous travel as you should find you've been charged correctly.

Contactless payments are requested at the end of service, this happens between 2am and 3am the day after you have traveled. Payments are usually then taken the next working day. If you travel on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or bank holiday, all payments will be taken on the same day.

Bus Inspectors will be given a list from the driver

If you have used a credit/debit card:
You will need to provide the inspector with the last 4 digits of the card number.

If you have used Apple Pay:
You will need to go into the 'Wallet & Apple Pay' from your settings, select the card and then click on 'Info' to display the Device Account Number. This will be different to the last 4 digits of your card number.

If you have used Android Pay:
You will need to go into the Android Pay app, select the card and display the Virtual Account Number. This will be different to the last 4 digits of your card number.

If you have to change your bus during a journey due to it breaking down or driver availability at a changeover point, you do not need to tap your card again on the replacement bus. Driver and Inspectors will be made aware of this.

If your card is blocked please check with your card issuer. If your card issuer cannot resolve the problem please email nx.contactless@nationalexpress.com

Please email us at nx.contactless@nationalexpress.com or fill out our customer enquiry form below.

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