Contactless payments now accepted on Itchen Bridge
Southampton City Council has introduced contactless payment on the Itchen Bridge.
Contactless will be a new option and joins the SmartCities Card and cash as the three ways to pay the toll.
New card readers are being installed on all the toll booths this week. Drivers should have their card ready as they approach the booth to tap on the reader to make payment. There is one card reader in place that will take both the contactless and SmartCities Card payments.
Using a SmartCities Card remains the only way to claim the resident discount on the bridge.
Councillor Jacqui Rayment, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Customer Organisation, comments: “I’m pleased that we’ve been able to introduce contactless payment as an option on the Itchen Bridge. We’ve been committed to this for some time as a convenient option for people making the crossing. We’ve now managed to overcome the challenges with introducing it in this location for the benefit of everyone using the crossing.”
There are two main reasons that Southampton City Council maintains a toll for crossing the Itchen Bridge, set out in law as part of The Hampshire Act (1983):
Contactless will be a new option and joins the SmartCities Card and cash as the three ways to pay the toll.
New card readers are being installed on all the toll booths this week. Drivers should have their card ready as they approach the booth to tap on the reader to make payment. There is one card reader in place that will take both the contactless and SmartCities Card payments.
Using a SmartCities Card remains the only way to claim the resident discount on the bridge.
Councillor Jacqui Rayment, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Customer Organisation, comments: “I’m pleased that we’ve been able to introduce contactless payment as an option on the Itchen Bridge. We’ve been committed to this for some time as a convenient option for people making the crossing. We’ve now managed to overcome the challenges with introducing it in this location for the benefit of everyone using the crossing.”
There are two main reasons that Southampton City Council maintains a toll for crossing the Itchen Bridge, set out in law as part of The Hampshire Act (1983):
- To manage congestion on Portsmouth Road through Woolston, encouraging other, non-local traffic, to take alternative routes better designed for high levels of traffic
- To cover the ongoing maintenance, repair and running costs of the bridge. It is a major structure, and one of the only bridges of its kind to be managed by a local authority, entirely on its own budget
Discounted rates are available for Southampton residents with a SmartCities Card. The concession is 40p (peak), compared to 80p and 30p (off peak) compared to 70p.
The upgrade to the card readers on the toll booths will mean that a small number of older SmartCities cards will need replacing. If you are one of these card holders we will have sent you an email and text message already with instructions to contact us so we that we can send you a new SmartCities card. If you haven’t received this message you do not need to change your card.
For full details on the Itchen Bridge Toll charges and to apply for a SmartCities Card, click here.