Unfortunately, due to the nature of contactless payments, our drivers will not know why a payment has failed. However, if for any reason a payment fails, you may wish to try a different card or pay using an alternative payment method such as; using an Apple or Google Pay enabled device, or purchasing a ticket via our First Bus App.
Tickets are often cheaper as mTickets on the First Bus App, so why not buy before you travel?
Below are just some of the more common reasons why a contactless transaction may have failed:
- The card hasn't been approved by the bank for the transaction.
- This can occur as a result of several contactless transactions in a short space of time which can trigger automated fraud risk management policies with your bank or card issuer.
- The card hasn’t been used at a Chip and PIN terminal for a certain period.
- Most banks and card issuers require a chip and PIN transaction every so often to help make sure it really is you using that card. Usually once a chip and PIN transaction has been seen by your card issuer, this temporary block will be removed.
- More than one card has been detected by the reader at the same time.
- If this happens the reader won’t take any payment and the driver will be notified that this is the case. Don’t worry though, simply make sure that one card is presented to the reader and try again.