Southend-on-Sea - Tap&Cap
Tap&Cap launched in Southend-on-Sea, on Monday 14th August 2023
Great News!
On Monday 14th August 2023, First Essex Buses launched the Tap&Cap payment function to encompass Southend-on-Sea, Castle Point and Rochford district areas. The new capped fare system will make bus travel in the Southend-on-Sea area easier and cheaper than ever before. The scheme will operate in the same way as it successfully does in Basildon, Chelmsford and Colchester.
Please see below Southend Tap & Cap zone area:
How much does Tap&Cap cost?
In any week, your travel days one, two and three are capped to £5.20. Day four is capped to £4.40. Any taps for travel days five, six and seven are FREE. The week's travel is capped at £20.00 - renewing each Monday.
Tap&Cap fare chart:
*Days 5, 6 & 7 are only free once you have reached the weekly limit of £20.
How will Tap&Cap benefit you?
With Tap&Cap there is no need to work out which ticket you should buy, as we work out the cheapest on-bus fare for you. The price you pay is based on the number of journeys you make and will never be more than our Southend Metro Day or Week ticket price. This way, if your travel plans change, you will never pay for more travel than you need.
Where can I travel using Tap&Cap?
Tap&Cap is available in Southend, Basildon, Chelmsford and Colchester only.
How can I check my Tap&Cap charges?
With Tap&Cap we will not be issuing paper tickets. To keep track of your spending, click below to visit the transaction portal. Once you have logged in, you can see what journeys you have made and how much you have been charged over the past 90 days. Click here to view your contactless payments.
Tap&Cap FAQs
Purchasing with Tap&Cap:
To pay for your ticket, place your card or mobile device onto the card reader as you board and wait for a beep that indicates your purchase has been registered. You must use the same card every time.
Tap&Cap takes your payment and uses your smart phone or payment card as a ticket. Just tap and go - no need to work out which ticket you need. Alternatively, contactless payments are a method of payment to purchase a digital or payment ticket in lieu of cash.
Tap&Cap is a more cost-effective method of buying single/return tickets. Child, Concession and Student discounted tickets are not available to buy via Tap&Cap.
No, you cannot bulk buy tickets using Tap&Cap. To buy multiple tickets, on the same card, please ask to purchase the tickets from the bus driver.
Tap&Cap is available in Southend, Basildon, Chelmsford and Colchester only.
Paper/digital tickets are not issued when you pay with Tap&Cap. Instead, your payment card acts as your ticket.
No need. Only one tap (and beep) is required when boarding the bus.
Tap&Cap payments:
You are charged based on the number of journeys you have made. The amount is calculated in real time and can be tracked on our customer portal where each charge will be displayed individually. Click here to visit the portal.
Your Tap&Cap payments will appear on our online portal within a few hours of making your journey.
If you use more than one card or device for Tap&Cap they will act as separate tickets. Your tracked journeys would be separated too.
We accept all MasterCard and Visa cards displaying the contactless symbol. Apple Pay and Google Pay are also valid for use. Unfortunately, we do not accept payments by American Express or Maestro. If you are using a pre-paid card, please ensure you have enough credit before trying to make a payment. Failure to provide funds could result in your card being rejected.
Most contactless payment cards, issued outside of the UK, will be accepted by our ticket machines. If you find your card is declined, please contact your bank or card issuer. Please be aware that payment cards, issued outside of the UK, may incur overseas transaction fees – which are applied by your bank or card issuer.
Tap&Cap problem solving:
Below are some of the more common reasons why a contactless transaction may have failed:
• The card has not 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 has not 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 ensure it really is you using that card. Once a chip and PIN transaction has been seen by your card issuer, this temporary block will usually be removed.
• More than one card or device has been detected by the reader at the same time. If this happens the reader will not take any payment and the driver will be notified that no payment has been made. This is not a problem - simply make sure that only one card or device is presented to the reader and try again.
Unfortunately, our drivers will not be able to explain why a payment has failed. However, if for any reason a payment does fail, you can try a different card or pay using an alternative payment method.
If you use a card for payment which is subsequently declined for insufficient funds, your card might be automatically blocked by our ticket machines. If this is the case, we will try to recover the money owed automatically after a few days or when you try to use the card again on our buses. As soon as the amount outstanding is settled with your bank or card issuer, you card will be unblocked by our ticket machines and you can make contactless payments on our buses once more.
Please contact our Customer Services team on 0345 646 0707 - available Monday to Friday between the hours of 08:00 and 18:00.
