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Free train, bus and tube travel in London on Friday with Mastercard contactless

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Mastercard is running a very low key promotion on Friday which will get you free travel to work and back if you live or work in London.

Mastercard has announced that Friday is ‘Fare Free Friday’.  To promote the new contact-less travel service on London buses, train and tube services, Mastercard will refund 100% of the contact-less charges you incur on Friday.

You must, of course, use a contact-less Mastercard credit or debit card when making your trip and pay via contact-less travel.

Full details can be found here on the Mastercard Priceless London website.  Despite the ‘register now’ button on the site (which only seems to register you for the TFL website) no specific registration appears to be needed for this promotion.

Press reports suggest that this will be repeated on November 28th although I have no independent confirmation so far.


Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

Barclaycard Avios Plus card

Barclaycard Avios Plus Mastercard

Get 25,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £10,000 Read our full review

Barclaycard Avios card

Barclaycard Avios Mastercard

5,000 Avios for signing up and an upgrade voucher at £20,000 Read our full review

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

British Airways American Express Premium Plus

25,000 Avios and the famous annual 2-4-1 voucher Read our full review

American Express Preferred Rewards Gold

Your best beginner’s card – 20,000 points, FREE for a year & four airport lounge passes Read our full review

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

Virgin Atlantic Reward+ Mastercard

15,000 bonus points and 1.5 points for every £1 you spend Read our full review

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

British Airways Accelerating Business American Express

30,000 Avios sign-up bonus – plus annual bonuses of up to 30,000 Avios Read our full review

American Express Business Platinum

40,000 points sign-up bonus and an annual £200 Amex Travel credit Read our full review

American Express Business Gold

20,000 points sign-up bonus and FREE for a year Read our full review

Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa

Huge 30,000 points bonus until 12th May 2024 Read our full review

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.

Barclaycard Select Cashback Business Credit Card

1% cashback uncapped* on all your business spending (T&C apply) Read our full review

Comments (54)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • YL says:

    Has anyone managed to use the Lloyds Avios Master card for this promotion?
    For some reason, A error message displayed as card not accepted when I tried to touch in through the gate..

    • Paul says:

      Have you used the card for a chip and pin payment before? This needs to be done to “activate” the countless part.

      Or,
      Your bank is refusing the card/there is an unpaid debt to TfL

      Or there is a general fault with your card…

      • YL says:

        Thanks for the reply Paul.
        I think I have not used this card on a chip & pin payment before, so this might be the reason.

    • Car says:

      I had the same issue with my Lloyds mastercard – not accepted on bus or tube. Very annoying.

      • YL says:

        After reading Paul’ s reply above, I am guessing Master card has yet to be activated for the contactless part therefore it was not accepted.

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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