London buskers to take contactless payments

Charlotte Campbell, a full-time busker in London, has been trialling the system for two weeks with a Repeat Payment of £2 per tap. She said that street performers need to adapt to a cashless society, allowing passersby to tap on the go. “It has already had a significant impact on the contributions I’ve received,” she said. “More people than ever tap to donate whilst I sing, and often, when one person does, another follows!” [...] Busk in London, an initiative set up by the mayor of the UK capital, has partnered with Swedish fintech company iZettle to launch the world’s first contactless payments initiative for street musicians. Rollout of the Repeat Payments feature–which allows performers to establish a fixed fee–has begun across the city’s 32 boroughs and will continue to expand over the coming months. iZettle now plans to make the feature available to more charity organisations, NGOs and small businesses. [...] London has been a leading city in legalising busking. In 2003 it allowed buskers to perform in certain locations across the London Underground. After applying for a busking licence, performers can play on one of 39 pitches across 25 central London stations. ### You may also be interested in ### Former Charlotte CIO to lead Dallas technology overhaul ### Call for shared standards as cities face fragmented data in crises ### New York launches sensors and AR tools in latest tech pilots