Add Tap2Go to your SWR smartcard for pay as you go travel on our network
Got a SWR smartcard already?
Then add Tap2Go to your Touch Smartcard straight away for pay as you go travel on South Western Railway (SWR) services. You’ll need to choose the option “Add Tap2Go to existing smartcard” when you login to your account.
Just touch in at the start and touch out at the end of your journey on yellow smartcard readers and we’ll charge you the best walk-up fare.
Adding Tap2Go to your SWR smartcard takes away the need to buy a train ticket before you travel on SWR services. Instead, you just touch in and touch out on yellow smartcard readers for the journeys you make and at the end of the day you’ll be charged the best walk-up fare. Now you can also add selected Railcards to your online account to get the best value fares. To add a Railcard log into your SWR account and select ‘Manage your Railcard’ from the left hand menu.
Always touch in at the start and touch out at the end of your journey so we can charge you the right fare. You can break your journey, but please remember to touch out and touch back in again when you resume your journey. Train tickets and season tickets can also be stored on your smartcard with Tap2Go, except a Flexi Season ticket. We strongly advise that a Flexi Season ticket is not used in combination with Tap2Go pay as you go and customers should obtain a separate smartcard for these products. Journeys between the origin and destination stations of your pre-purchased ticket will not be charged, but journeys outside of them will be charged through Tap2Go.
Important message for customers with more than one smartcard in their account
When you sign up to Tap2Go, it is added only to the smartcard you nominate and not to any other smartcards within your SWR account. Train tickets (including season tickets) added to the same nominated Tap2Go smartcard will be taken into account when calculating your Tap2Go fare. If you have another smartcard in your account with train tickets added to it, this will not be included when calculating your Tap2Go fare.
Tap2Go can’t be used on TfL’s Underground, Overground, TfL Rail, bus, River Bus and tram services. You can only use Tap2Go as far as London Waterloo and it can't be used to travel to any other London Terminal.
Only sign up if you’re travelling in the next 30 days so you can activate Tap2Go on your smartcard, otherwise you may need to sign up again
You must touch in and touch out on yellow smartcard readers for every journey you make - even if you have a season ticket
If you don’t touch in or touch out, we can’t tell where you’ve travelled from or to and work out the right fare for your journey. If you don't autocomplete the journey as soon as possible in your account, we may charge a £25 incomplete journey penalty
We’ll communicate with you about your Tap2Go account by email, so you’ll need to check for emails from us regularly
Tap2Go can’t be used on Transport for London (TfL) or other train company’s services
Add up to two Railcards to your Tap2Go account using the ‘My Account’ functionality. To add a Railcard log into your SWR account and select ‘Manage your Railcard’ from the left hand menu
You will need to link a valid credit or debit card to your account and keep it up to date to use Tap2Go
When you sign up to Tap2Go, we charge £1 to verify your payment card that can then be used towards future journeys.
Remember, you should only sign up if you’re travelling in the next 30 days so you can activate Tap2Go on a yellow smartcard reader. Tap2Go smartcards can only be used by the named account holder.
When you touch in and touch out on yellow smartcard readers at SWR stations, we can tell where you’ve travelled and charge you the best walk-up fare for that completed journey. Payment is taken automatically the day after travel.
Auto top-up
Auto top-up means you don’t need to worry about your credit running out. Your balance will remain at £0.00 until you make a journey, which will then give you a negative balance. We will charge your account for the fare the next day and it will take you back to £0.00.
You can also top-up your account so that we take payment from your pay as you go credit first before charges are made to your linked payment card. When a journey takes your balance below zero, we’ll auto top-up your account so it brings it back to £0.00. You can check your balance, journey details and charges in your online SWR account.
Using Tap2Go
You must always touch in at the start and touch out at the end of your journey on yellow smartcard readers so that we can charge you the best fare. If you don’t, you’ll be travelling without a ticket and will need to buy a ticket for the journey or will be charged a penalty fare.
How much will I be charged using Tap2Go?
Journeys on the SWR network and Island Line
You’ll be charged the cheapest fare for the journey that you would get if you bought your ticket from a ticket office or ticket machine on the day of travel. Ticket types you will be charged are Anytime Day Single and Return, Off-Peak Day Single and Return, and Super Off-Peak Day Single and Return. If you add a Railcard to your Tap2Go account, this will be taken into account when the fare is calculated.
Journeys within the London fare zones
When your journey on SWR services is within the London fare zones 1-6, we’ll charge you TfL’s Oyster pay as you go fares, pay as you go capped fares, Travelcard or National Rail fare, whichever is cheapest.
Charges if you don’t touch in and touch out
If you don’t touch in and touch out on journeys, you’ll need to login to your account to complete the journey or you’ll be charged £25 for an incomplete journey.
Same station exit
If you touch in and touch out at the same station within 15 minutes, no fare will be charged and we’ll assume you decided not to travel.
Help and support
If you think you’ve been charged incorrectly, please contact our Customer Service Centre on 0345 6000 650 or smartcards@swrailway.com
If your journey is validated on Tap2Go and delayed by 15 minutes or more, you can claim Delay Repay on southwesternrailway.com/delayrepay
If you're having problems with your smartcard or Tap2Go, get in touch or read our smartcard FAQs.
Terms and conditions
Introduction
Your South Western Railway (“SWR”) Touch Smartcard and Tap2Go account are issued subject to the following Terms and Conditions. These Terms and Conditions set out your rights and obligations.
Your Smartcard is issued free of charge and remains the property of SWR.
We reserve the right to withdraw the Touch Smartcard or Tap2Go account at any time.
The conditions of use for your Touch Smartcard can be found here.
Any ticket that you buy and use for travel on a Touch Smartcard is issued subject to the National Rail Conditions of Travel and Railway Byelaws. Further details and a copy of these conditions are available at southwesternrailway.com. Tickets stored on a Touch Smartcard are subject to normal refund rules in accordance with the National Rail Conditions of Travel (NRCoT).
Please note that railway staff or agents have no authority to make individual exceptions to the NRCoT, Railway Byelaws or any of the additional Terms or Conditions contained or referenced within this document.
Tap2Go Terms and Conditions of use
January 2021 until further notice
Registering for Tap2Go
You will need to register for Tap2Go through your SWR account. Tap2Go can either be loaded to an existing SWR Touch Smartcard or you can request a new one.
A valid debit or credit card must be associated with your account. You must also agree to a Continuous Payment Authority (CPA) via your payment card. A CPA is an agreement between you and us that authorises us to withdraw money from your account via your payment card without having to seek individual repeated consents from you. By using Tap2Go on your Touch Smartcard you are agreeing to these Terms and Conditions of use and providing consent for us to deduct automatic payment from your payment card using CPA.
You must keep your credit or debit card details up to date. The payment card associated with your account may be changed at any time If your details are not up to date and failed payments occur, we will notify you via email to ask for the details to be updated. We may try and debit your payment card at a later stage on more than one occasion.
You must ensure there are sufficient funds available in your nominated payment card account to cover Tap2Go charges payable to us. Your Tap2Go account will be closed and legal action taken to recover any amounts owed following three consecutive failed payment requests.
If we are unable to take payment from your nominated payment card and you continue to make journeys using Tap2Go, you are still liable to pay any fares accrued and we may take steps to recover debts owed.
When you register for your Tap2Go account an initial charge of £1.00 is required to pre-authorise your payment card. This will be used as credit towards your first journey using Tap2Go.
Your card will be first activated when you tap in at an SWR Tap2Go station. You must choose the station you wish to start your journey from and can choose from any of the Tap2Go stations which are highlighted green on the Tap2Go map.
If you already have a smartcard and you add Tap2Go to it, you must collect it within 7 days from your nominated station, touching your card on the yellow smartcard reader, otherwise you will need to register again.
If you order a new smartcard with Tap2Go already loaded, you must use/activate it within 30 days of sign up otherwise you will need to register again.
Tap2Go Account Management
When your account balance falls below zero, we will make a payment request to cover the journeys made. The threshold of the account is zero, we will not charge any amount that brings your balance above zero.
Additional credit can be added to your Tap2Go account up to the value of £100.
Any additional credit added to the account will be used to cover the cost of your journey before any charge is made to your registered payment card.
The credit balance will remain on your Touch Smartcard account for you to use as payment towards future Tap2Go Journeys.
You may request to have the credit balance refunded back to your payment card through your online account.
If we are unable to refund the credit balance back to the payment card associated with your account, we will offer you an alternative option for instance e-voucher or cheque. E-vouchers will be applicable only to the Touch Smartcard user’s online account for use against ticket purchases through the website. Cheques are made payable to the registered Smartcard user and posted to the address associated with Smartcard.
Using Tap2Go
Your Tap2Go Touch Smartcard can only be used on South Western Railway (“SWR”) operated services within the Tap2Go network area. This includes Island Line services. If a journey begins or ends outside of the Tap2Go network, the journey will be considered invalid and incomplete.
Tap2Go is not currently available for travel using services operated by Transport for London (TfL). You can only use Tap2Go as far as London Waterloo, it cannot be used to travel to any other London Terminal.
Tap2Go is not valid for travel on ferry or hovercraft services between the mainland and the Isle of Wight.
You must always tap in at the start and tap out at the end of your journey by placing your Touch Smartcard on the card reader at gatelines or using a platform validator.
If you decide not to travel
If you decide not to travel, for example due to disruption or cancelled trains after you have tapped in at the station, you will need to tap out again within 15 minutes. If you tap in and then out again outside of 15 minutes, you may be liable for an incomplete journey charge.
Incomplete journeys
An incomplete journey occurs when:
• You travel using Tap2Go outside the Tap2Go network area described in condition 3 and/or; • You do not touch in at the start of your journey and/or touch out at the end of your journey.
If you do not touch in or out, no fare can be calculated. We will contact you via email to ask that you complete the journey via your account. You can do this by adding missing ‘taps’ to an incomplete journey, you should do this as soon as possible following it’s occurrence. You can take this action up to 3 times in a 28 day period after which time you will need to contact customer services. You may be asked to provide a reason why you were not able to tap in or tap out on your Journey.
If you do not tap in and out when you travel and do not subsequently complete your journey as per 5.1, you may be charged an incomplete journey charge of £25 per journey.
Where possible, we will auto-complete incomplete journeys up to 3 times in a 28-day period based on your previous journey history, further failures to complete a journey may result in an incomplete journey charge.
Failure to tap in or out on 4 or more occasions may result in account closure.
You have until the Wednesday following the date of travel to complete your journey. After this time, your journey can no longer be amended and any incomplete journey charge applied to your account will stand.
If there is a delay in tap data being received by our system which can lead to your fare being incorrectly calculated or incomplete journey notifications sent, we will automatically amend your Tap2Go charges as necessary once the information is received.
Fares for Tap2Go
At the end of each day, all your journeys will be assessed to calculate the best fare (see how we calculate the best daily fare paragraph 6.3 below). These journeys will then be debited from your account balance or charged to the registered payment card the day after travel. If you hold a credit balance on your Touch Smartcard account, we will first use this balance to pay the relevant fare(s) before we take payment from your nominated payment card for the remaining balance.
You are liable to pay the relevant fares for all journeys taken using the your Touch Smartcard registered through your account to use Tap2Go either via credit associated with your account or your debit or credit card using the CPA.
The best day fare offer is based on tickets that can be bought on the day of travel. We will charge you the cheapest fare based upon the taps you have made on your journey and the journey length to best guess the route you took. Fares are based on paper equivalent tickets defined as Peak, Off-Peak Day and Super Off-Peak Day single and Day return and Oyster fares for journeys made wholly within the London zones 1-6. Where journeys occur within the London zones 1-6, journeys will be Price Matched with the equivalent Oyster zone day fare or Travelcard price for journeys that begin or end outside the London area. When a Journey is made within the Tap2Go area, your rail Journeys will be reviewed and the best fare calculated on your behalf.
Child discounts and boundary fares are not currently available on journeys made using Tap2Go.
Break of journey is available whilst using Tap2Go, the best daily fare will be calculated.
Period returns are not available. If you travel out on day one and return on day two, you will be charged a single fare for each journey.
First Class travel is not available when using Tap2Go. You will need to purchase a separate ticket when traveling in First Class.
Each time you tap out at a station, the journey will be considered completed, unless you tap in and continue your journey within 4 hours and 36 minutes – in this instance we will calculate the best daily fare for the journeys completed.
The following Railcard Discounts can be added to your Tap2Go account using the ‘My Account’ functionality:
Using Tap2Go on your Touch Smartcard with other pre-purchased tickets
You can hold pre-purchase tickets such as season tickets, Flexi Season and singles and return along with Tap2Go on the same SWR Touch Smartcard.
Season tickets: Where a journey is made that is covered by your season ticket, no charge will be made through Tap2Go. If you travel outside the validity of the ticket within the Tap2Go network area, you will be charged the appropriate fare for that part of the journey through your Tap2Go account.
Daily tickets: Where a journey is made that is covered by a pre-purchased single or return ticket, no charge will be made through Tap2Go. If you travel outside the validity of the ticket within the Tap2Go network area, you will be charged the appropriate fare for that part of the journey through your Tap2Go account. However, please be aware that if you break your journey covered by the daily ticket, the location where you break your journey will not be recorded which may result in an additional charge covering the same journey. Please contact our Customer Service Centre on 0345 6000 650 if you experience this.
Flexi Season: Tap2Go and Flexi Season should not be loaded onto the same Touch Smartcard. We strongly recommend that a separate Touch Smartcard is used for each product, this will allow you to choose the correct product for your journey.
Inspection
In addition to touching in and out when you start, finish or break your journeys, you must produce your Touch Smartcard when asked to do so for inspection. The Touch Smartcard will be checked for any valid tickets. If you don’t tap in at the start of your journey, no valid ticket will be displayed, and you may be liable to pay a penalty fare for travelling without a ticket.
Forgotten, lost or stolen smartcards
The registered holder of the card is liable to pay the fare for all journeys made. If your Touch Smartcard is used by someone else, we will not be held liable for any journeys completed without your consent.
If you have forgotten your Touch Smartcard, you must purchase a valid ticket to travel. There is no refund available on tickets purchased when a Touch Smartcard is forgotten. If you have an additional season ticket on your Touch Smartcard that covers the journey you are making, you may be entitled to a refund of a single or day return fare purchased.
If you lose your Touch Smartcard, you must contact the Customer Service Centre on 0345 6000 650 as soon as possible. Your card will be blocked to ensure it cannot be used by anyone else. A replacement Touch Smartcard will be issued with any products held preloaded. If you notice any charges made using your reported lost Touch Smartcard, you must notify our Customer Service Centre on 0345 6000 650 immediately. We will refund you for any journeys made following contact to report the loss.
Refunds
If you believe you have been charged the wrong fare for the journeys completed, please contact out Customer Service team on 0345 6000 650. Any changes must be requested by the Wednesday following the date of travel, after this time changes will not be possible. If, upon investigation we find that you were chanrged the wrong fare, we will adjust your account balance. If you wish to have this refunded to your associated payment card, this can be done upon request.
Delay Repay compensation
11.1 Delay Repay compensation is available when you are delayed by 15 minutes or more at your destination station. Claims can be made here.
Closing your Tap2Go account
You may close your Tap2Go account at any time by logging into your SWR account, navigating to your Tap2Go account and selecting “close account”. Alternatively you can contact our Customer Service Centre on 0345 6000 650. The Tap2Go product on your Touch Smartcard will be blocked to prevent further charges being applied, as well as finalising any outstanding tap data collected to apply a final charge and bring the account balance to zero. If, after account finalisation, you have credit in your account, this will be refunded to your payment card. Please be aware that the account closure process takes 11 days to allow for any outstanding taps to be collected and the final balance calculated.
If we are unable to take final payment from your nominated payment card, we will contact you to update your payment details so that final payment can be made. Your Tap2Go account will not fully close until your balance is returned to zero.
You may cancel your CPA directly with your bank instead of through your Touch Smartcard account. The Financial Conduct Authority’s guidance on cancelling CPAs is set out here. If you cancel the CPA in this way rather than through your Touch Smartcard account you may incur debt to us for journeys made using Tap2Go for which we cannot take payment. If you refuse to pay these when contacted, we may take legal action to recover any amounts due and owing.
Tap2Go account closure will not affect any other tickets stored on your Touch Smartcard.
We may suspend or cancel your Touch Smartcard account in the following circumstances:
If we believe your Touch Smartcard or Tap2Go is being used in a way that is not permitted under these Conditions.
If we believe that the right to use any number or password used in relation to your Touch Smartcard account is or has been gained by a third party or in an unauthorised, illegal, improper or fraudulent way.
If we no longer hold valid payment card details associated to your account and are unable to take payment.
If you register for Tap2Go but do not make your first Journey within six months.
If we believe that you have paid us or are trying to pay us using a stolen or otherwise barred or false debit or credit card or if the debit or credit card transaction is at some time charged back to us.
If you tell us that your Touch Smartcard has been lost or stolen.
If you tamper with your Touch Smartcard in any way which damages or affects the operation or security of the Tap2Go network, the Touch Smartcard or Tap2Go.
If we are permanently unable to provide theTap2Go service to you or we choose to withdraw them.
If the emergency services or any regulatory authority tell us to cease to provide the Tap2Go service, or a law or regulation is passed which means we need to do so;
If you cease to have a valid email address associated with your Account.
We may contact you about your Tap2Go account for the following reasons:
• Registration • Account Closure • Failure to load/collect the Tap2Go product when it has been ordered • Incomplete journey information (request to complete) • Autocomplete journey information (where we have completed) • Successful payment • Payment failure • Update/expiry of payment card • Changes to our Tap2Go service/service interruption • Changes to these terms and conditions • Delay Repay (including Auto Delay Repay)
Miscellaneous
We will notify you of any planned outages of the Tap2Go network to ensure your journey is unaffected.
If the Tap2Go network is unavailable for reasons out of our control, we will not be liable to pay compensation for a loss in service.
You agree not to use Tap2Go for any purpose that is abusive, illegal, fraudulent, a nuisance or for criminal activities. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate the use of your Touch Smartcard if we have reasonable belief that it is being used for or in connection with any such activities.
Tap2Go is for use only by the registered user of the relevant Touch Smartcard. The Touch Smartcard and/or Tap2Go may not be used for reward or hire.
We may make changes to the Tap2Go services at any time and we can make changes to or introduce new terms to these terms and conditions at any time. If possible we will give reasonable notice of these changes. The changes will apply when we publish details of them in a way, which we consider is reasonable, for example by displaying messages on our website, your online account or contacting you directly at your registered email address.
We will be legally responsible to you if our negligence causes death or personal injury. We will not be legally responsible to you for any, whether direct or indirect:
• loss of income or profit; • loss of use of the Tap2Go service; • lost business or missed opportunities; or • any loss or damage that is not directly caused by us or which we did not reasonably expect at the time you entered into this agreement.
Our maximum liability to you under these Conditions will be to refund the balance on your Touch Smartcard account on the date our dispute with you is settled.
These terms and conditions of use are governed by English law and shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales.
