Contactless in Birmingham

Yes on the buses, only through a conductor on the tram, and not on the trains at all.

Every bus operator here takes a contactless bank card or phone at the reader as you board: National Express West Midlands and National Express Coventry — the city bus companies, not the intercity coach firm of almost the same name — along with Diamond Bus, Stagecoach Midlands and Arriva. It is one tap, on the way in only, and none of them has a tap-out. What that tap buys differs by company. On Diamond you tell the driver which ticket you want, the driver sets it on the machine, and your tap pays for it. On Arriva a tap pays for whichever ticket you ask for. On the two National Express companies each tap is charged as a journey under Tap & Cap, and tapping again as you get off is read as boarding a second time and charged again.

Capping is where the operators part company, and it matters more than the tap. National Express caps a bank card, and only on its own buses. On National Express West Midlands the cap is £5.50 in a capping day and £21.00 in a Sunday-to-Saturday week; National Express Coventry caps too, as long as you use the same card or device for every journey. National Express states it plainly — a card capped on its buses is not capped on anyone else's — and Diamond, Stagecoach and Arriva run no bank-card capping in the West Midlands at all. Transport for West Midlands has a multi-operator contactless system planned for spring or summer 2027, and it is not running yet.

Off the bus, the picture changes. West Midlands Metro has no reader for a bank card: you buy a ticket from the conductor on board, and a card pays for that. On the trains — West Midlands Railway, CrossCountry, Avanti West Coast and Transport for Wales — a bank card is not a ticket at all, so buy before you board. And American Express is refused on Diamond and National Express West Midlands: Diamond takes any Visa or Mastercard contactless card wherever it was issued, but not Amex, Maestro or a prepaid currency card, and National Express West Midlands does not take Amex, Diners, JCB or UnionPay either.

So tap the same card every time, stay on National Express buses if you want the cap to do anything, and if your day crosses operators buy a Swift card with Swift Go on it instead — that caps across the bus companies in the nBus ticket scheme, at £5.50 a day.

Yes, on every bus in the city, and it is a single tap as you board. Hold your card or phone to the reader beside the driver and you have paid a flat single fare for that ride. There is no tap-out here: tapping again as you get off is read as a second boarding and charged as a second fare, so do not do it.

Five bus companies take it. National Express West Midlands and National Express Coventry — the local bus operators, not the intercity coach company of nearly the same name — Diamond Bus, Stagecoach Midlands and Arriva. Only National Express West Midlands caps what your bank card spends, under Tap & Cap: £5.50 in a capping day, £21.00 in a Sunday-to-Saturday week, on its own buses only. That cap does not follow your card onto a Diamond, Stagecoach or Arriva bus, and none of those three caps a bank card here at all — every tap on them is another full fare.

Being found aboard without having paid is charged differently by each of them too. National Express West Midlands and National Express Coventry issue an unpaid fare notice of £100; Stagecoach Midlands charges a penalty fare of £25; Diamond and Arriva charge a maximum fare rather than a set figure.

So tap once, on the way in, with the same card all day. If your day will cross operators, the card that caps across all of them is a Swift card with Swift Go on it, at £5.50 a day — buy it before your first trip, not after.