Introduction

Transport for London (TfL) has entered into a £845 million contract with Spanish technology group Indra to operate and modernise its Oyster and contactless ticketing systems.

What does Indra actually control?

Under the agreement, Indra will operate, maintain, upgrade and secure TfL’s entire fare-collection system. This includes Oyster cards, contactless payments, ticket barriers, inspection devices and the central platforms that process millions of daily transactions.

These systems decide:

  • How fares are calculated and capped.
  • How revenue is collected and audited.
  • How quickly do passengers move through stations.
  • How refunds and disputes are handled
  • How personal and payment data is protected

A long-term strategic bet

The contract runs until at least 2034, with an option to extend to 2039. Over that period, payment technology will evolve, cyber threats will intensify, and passenger expectations will continue to rise.

Indra will not simply maintain legacy systems. It will actively shape how TfL modernises, influencing whether London remains a global leader in smart transport or falls behind more innovative cities. This creates a classic case of strategic dependency: once systems are deeply embedded, switching suppliers becomes complex and costly, raising the stakes of long-term performance.

The technology shift underneath the deal.

A core feature of the contract is the expansion of account-based ticketing. Instead of storing fare data on physical cards, fares are calculated centrally using cloud-based systems.

This allows smarter fare capping, flexible discounts, faster refunds and better integration across transport modes. For passengers, that means reduced friction and fairer pricing. For TfL, it offers scalability and richer data. For Indra, it deepens long-term control over systems that become increasingly difficult to unwind.

The key practice areas involved (and why future lawyers should care)

Although deals like this are multi-disciplinary, four practice areas sit at the core of TfL’s £845m contract with Indra:

Public Procurement

  • They advise on the tender process, bidder evaluation and transparency obligations, while managing the risk of legal challenge from unsuccessful bidders. For contracts of this scale, procurement errors can delay or even collapse the entire project.

Technology, Media & Telecommunications (TMT)

  • Negotiating the core technology agreement, including service levels, system resilience, intellectual property rights, liability caps and change-control mechanisms as the technology evolves.

Commercial Contracts

  • Structuring the long-term operational relationship between TfL and Indra, allocating risk over a 10–15 year period and ensuring the contract remains commercially workable as payment systems and passenger expectations change.

Data Protection & Privacy

  • Advising on the handling of vast volumes of personal and payment data, compliance with UK GDPR, controller-processor arrangements and legal exposure in the event of a data breach.

Future Outlook

Cities increasingly run on digital infrastructure and decisions about who designs and secures those systems shape everyday life. TfL’s choice reflects a broader shift across public services: technical expertise and scale now outweigh traditional models of public ownership alone.

For aspiring commercial lawyers, this deal shows how some of the most impactful legal work happens quietly, structuring long-term contracts that determine how millions of people move through a city every day.