To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to outline (i) when Translink will be able to accept card payments for fares; and (ii) how Translink deal with passengers with only this method of payment at present.

Translink currently accepts contact and contactless credit and debit card payments at all its bus and rail station ticket offices.

NI Railways have commenced a pilot on-train for contact and contactless credit and debit card payment acceptance using our Conductors’ handheld ticket machines.

The pilot software is only deployed on a small number of such machines while the performance of the devices 'in the field' is monitored and assessed.

Assuming that no significant issues arise during the pilot, staff will be trained and EMV card acceptance rolled out to all handheld ticket machines over the coming months.

Currently, if customers only have this method of payment they can either:

(a) pay using credit or debit card at any NI Railways ticket office; or

(b) download Translink’s mLink mobile ticketing app and pay for their NI Railways ticket using their credit/debit card or PayPal account: or

(c) purchase their ticket online on the Translink website using their credit/debit card.

Credit and debit card payments cannot currently be accepted on Metro and Ulsterbus services due to the age of Translink’s current ticketing equipment but it is Translink’s intention to deploy contactless EMV acceptance functionality when the new on-bus ticketing system is implemented in the coming years.