Tap2Go

Your South Western Railway (“SWR”) Touch Smartcard Tap2Go account is issued subject to the following Terms and Conditions. Your Smartcard is issued free of charge and remains the property of SWR, there is an initial charge of £1.00 to create your Tap2Go account.

We reserve the right to withdraw the Touch Smartcard or Tap2Go account at any time. 

The conditions of your Touch Smartcard can be found here.

Any ticket loaded to 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.

All refunds must be arranged through our Customer Service Centre by calling 0345 810 1010.

Registering for Tap2Go

1. You will need to register for a new Touch Smartcard that will be linked directly to your Tap2Go account. The registration is completed in ‘Your Account’.
2. A valid debit or credit card must be associated with your account.
3. You must keep your credit or debit card details up to date. 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.
4. Following three consecutive failed payment requests, your Tap2Go account will be closed and legal action taken to recover any amounts owed.
5. The payment card associated with your account may be changed at any time.
6. When you register for your account an initial charge of £1.00 is required, this will be used towards your first journey using Tap2Go.
7. 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.
8. Additional credit can be added to the account during registration.
9. 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.
10. Your card will be activated when you tap in at an SWR station outside the London area.

Using Tap2Go

1. Your Tap2Go Touch Smartcard can only be used on South Western Railway services within the Network area to be considered as a valid journey. If the journey ends outside the SWR network area, the journey will be considered incomplete.
2. Tap2Go is not currently available for travel using services operated by Transport for London or journeys in the London zonal area.
3. 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.
4. You must tap out to end your journey, if you do not tap out no fare can be calculated. We will contact you via email to ask that you call us to complete the journey.
5. Where possible, we will auto-complete incomplete journeys up to 3 times in a 28-day period, further failure will result in an incomplete journey charge.
6. Failure to tap in or out on 3 or more occasions may result in an incomplete journey charge or account closure.
7. Railcard discounts are not currently available on journeys made using Tap2Go.
8. Child discounts are not currently available on journeys made using Tap2Go.
9. Break of journey is available whilst using Tap2Go, the best daily fare will be calculated.
10. 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.
11. First Class travel is not available when using Tap2Go. You will need to purchase a separate ticket when traveling in First Class.
12. If you hold Carnet tickets on the same Touch Smartcard, travel between the stations of validity will result in one of your day tickets being used. You will not be charged through Tap2Go.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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.
16. 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.
17. If you lose your Touch Smartcard, you must contact the Smart Team on 0345 810 1010 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 the Smart Team on 0345 810 1010 immediately. We will refund you for any journeys made following contact to report the loss.
18. You can purchase other tickets on the same Touch Smartcard. Where a journey is made that is covered by the ticket, no charge will be made. If you travel outside the validity of the ticket within the SWR network area, you will be charged for the extension through your Tap2Go account.
19. If you feel you have been charged the wrong fare for the journeys completed, please contact out Customer Service team on 0345 810 1010. Any changes must be requested prior to Thursday of the following week of travel, after this time changes will not be possible.
20. Delay Repay compensation is available when you are delayed by 15 minutes or more at your destination station. Claims can be made here.
21. If you decide not to travel 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 a maximum fare.
22. At the end of each day, all your journeys will be assessed to calculate the best fare. These journeys will then be debited from your account balance or charged to the registered payment card the day after travel.
23. We will notify you of any planned outages of the Tap2Go network to ensure your journey is unaffected.
24. 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.
25. You may close your Tap2Go account at anytime by contacting our smart support team on 0345 810 1010. 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 you have added additional credit to your account, this will be refunded to your payment card.
26. Tap2Go account closure will not affect any other tickets stored on your Touch Smartcard.

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 of payment card
• Changes to our Tap2Go service/service interruption