Contactless smart cards on the buses and trams of Britain
Contactless smart cards are being progressively introduced to replace paper ticketing on the buses of Britain. The first large scale adoption for transit in Britain has been the Transport for London Oystercard. This uses a proprietary encoding developed by Cubic Transportation Systems.
The ITSO standard has been developed as a national standard to cover all types of public transport. It is also the format that ENCTS concessionary passes are required to be issued in.
The Oystercard system was not originally compatible with ITSO. However, the two systems are now one way compatible, with Oyster readers being able to read ITSO cards.
As of 13 July 2020 the acceptance position is:
| England | Multi-operator Smart period passes | Multi-operator PAYG | Contactless EMV e-purse | Contactless EMV transit mode | StagecoachSmart | Go-Ahead | First Touchcard | Arriva Connect | Other Operators Period Passes | Other Operators PAYG |
| Bedfordshire | Cygnet | Arriva Stagecoach Thameslink | Yes | Thameslink | Yes | Centrebus | Thameslink | |||
| Berkshire | First Berkshire Reading Buses Stagecoach | Carousel Buses TfL | Yes | TfL Oyster Courtney Connect | TfL Oyster Courtney Connect | |||||
| Bristol | travelwest | travelwest squidcard | First Bristol, Bath & the West | Yes | ||||||
| Buckinghamshire | Arriva | Carousel Buses TfL ) | Yes | TfL Oyster | TfL Oyster | |||||
| Cambridgeshire | Stagecoach | Yes | Go-Whippet | |||||||
| Cheshire | Cheshire Travelcard | Arriva Stagecoach | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Cornwall | First Kernow Go Cornwall Stagecoach | |||||||||
| County Durham | Popcard | Stagecoach Arriva | ||||||||
| Cumbria | NowStar | Yes | ||||||||
| Derbyshire | Arriva Stagecoach | Yes | ||||||||
| Derby | Spectrum | Arriva | Trent Barton Mango | |||||||
| Devon | Skipper | Plymouth CitybusStagecoach | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Dorset | Getting About | First Bus Morebus Yellow Bus | Yes | Yellow Bus Glo | Yellow Bus Glo Purse | |||||
| East Riding of Yorkshire | Transdev Coastliner | |||||||||
| East Sussex | Stagecoach | Metrobus | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Essex | Arriva TfL Ensignbus | TfL | TfL Oyster | TfL Oyster | ||||||
| Gloucestershire | travelwest | Yes | Touchcard | |||||||
| Greater London | Oyster | Oyster | Carousel Buses Citymapper Stagecoach | TfL | Yes | Yes | ||||
| Greater Manchester | Get Me There | Arriva Stagecoach | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Hampshire | SolentGo | Stagecoach Bluestar First | Yes | Yes | Touchcard | |||||
| Herefordshire | Yes | |||||||||
| Hertfordshire | Arriva | TfL | Yes | Centrebus | ||||||
| Isle of Wight | Southern Vectis | Yes | ||||||||
| Kent | Kent and Medway Connected Smartcard | Arriva Stagecoach | TfL | Yes | Yes | TfL Oyster | TfL Oyster | |||
| Lancashire | NowStar | Arriva Stagecoach Transdev Blackburn | Yes | |||||||
| Leicestershire | Onecard | Arriva First Bus | Kinchbus | Yes | Kinchkard Centrebus | Trent Barton Mango | ||||
| Lincolnshire | Delaine BusesStagecoach | Yes | Centrebus | |||||||
| Merseyside | Walruscard | Arriva Stagecoach | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Norfolk | Holdall | Holdall | Lynx Sanders Coaches | Yes | ||||||
| North Yorkshire | Arriva Harrogate Bus Company | |||||||||
| Northamptonshire | Stagecoach | Yes | Centrebus | |||||||
| Northumberland | Popcard | Arriva Go North East | Yes | |||||||
| Nottinghamshire | Robin Hood | Robin Hood | StagecoachTrent Barton | Trent Barton | Yes | Nottingham City Transport Centrebus | Trent Barton Nottingham City Transport | |||
| Oxfordshire | Oxford SmartZone | Stagecoach | Oxford Bus Thames Travel | Yes | Yes | |||||
| Rutland | Centrebus | |||||||||
| Shropshire | Arriva | |||||||||
| Somerset | travelwest | First BusStagecoach | Yes | Touchcard | ||||||
| South Yorkshire | SYPTE Smartcard | Stagecoach | Yes also on Sheffield Supertram | |||||||
| Staffordshire | Swift | Arriva First Bus | National Express West Midlands | Yes | National Express West Midlands Swift | National Express West Midlands Swift Trent Barton Mango | ||||
| Suffolk | Endeavour | Ipswich Buses | Yes | Ipswich Buses | ||||||
| Surrey | Safeguard Stagecoach Arriva | TfL ; Metrobus | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| Tyne and Wear | Popcard | Popcard | Arriva Go North East Stagecoach | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||
| Warwickshire | Stagecoach | Yes | ||||||||
| West Midlands | Swift | Swift Swift Go | Arriva Diamond Buses Midland Metro | National Express West Midlands | Yes | |||||
| West Sussex | Arriva Stagecoach | Metrobus Brighton Buses | Yes | Yes | ||||||
| West Yorkshire | MCard | MCard | Arriva First Bus | Transdev Harrogate Transdev Keighley | Yes | |||||
| Wiltshire | Salisburys Reds Thamesdown | Yes | Yes | Swindon | Swindon | |||||
| Worcestershire | Swiftcard | Diamond Buses | Diamond Buses First Worcestershire | Yes | ||||||
| York | York by bus | First York | ||||||||
| Wales | ||||||||||
| Blaenau Gwent | Yes | |||||||||
| Bridgend | Yes | |||||||||
| Caerphilly | Yes | |||||||||
| Cardiff | Cardiff Bus | Yes | Cardiff Bus iff card | Cardiff Bus iff card | ||||||
| Carmarthenshire | ||||||||||
| Ceredigion | ||||||||||
| Conwy | Arriva | Yes | ||||||||
| Denbighshire | Arriva | Yes | ||||||||
| Flintshire | Arriva | Yes | ||||||||
| Gwynedd | Arriva | Yes | ||||||||
| Isle of Anglesey | Arriva | Yes | ||||||||
| Merthyr Tydfil | Yes | |||||||||
| Monmouthshire | ||||||||||
| Neath Port Talbot | ||||||||||
| Newport | Yes | Newport Bus: Passport | Newport BUS: Freedom | |||||||
| Pembrokeshire | ||||||||||
| Powys | ||||||||||
| Rhondda Cynon Taf | Yes | |||||||||
| Swansea | ||||||||||
| Torfaen | Yes | |||||||||
| Vale of Glamorgan | Yes | |||||||||
| Wrexham | Arriva | Yes | ||||||||
| Scotland | ||||||||||
| Aberdeenshire | Grasshopper | First | Yes | Touchcard | ||||||
| Angus | Yes | |||||||||
| Argyll and Bute | ||||||||||
| City of Edinburgh | Lothian Buses | Lothian Buses | Lothian Buses: Ridacard Edinburgh Trams: Ridacard | Lothian Buses: CitySmart Edinburgh Trams:CitySmart | ||||||
| Clackmannanshire | ||||||||||
| Dumfries and Galloway | Yes | |||||||||
| Dundee City | ABC | |||||||||
| East Ayrshire | Yes | |||||||||
| East Dunbartonshire | ||||||||||
| East Lothian | ||||||||||
| East Renfrewshire | ||||||||||
| Falkirk | Yes | |||||||||
| Fife | Yes | |||||||||
| Glasgow City | First | Yes | ||||||||
| Highland | ||||||||||
| Inverclyde | McGills | |||||||||
| Midlothian | Yes | |||||||||
| Moray | ||||||||||
| Na h-Eileanan Siar | ||||||||||
| North Ayrshire | Yes | |||||||||
| North Lanarkshire | ||||||||||
| Orkney Islands | Yes | |||||||||
| Perth and Kinross | Yes | |||||||||
| Renfrewshire | McGills | McGills | ||||||||
| Scottish Borders | ||||||||||
| Shetland Islands | ||||||||||
| South Ayrshire | Yes | |||||||||
| South Lanarkshire | ||||||||||
| Stirling | Yes | |||||||||
| West Dunbartonshire | ||||||||||
| West Lothian |