In plain English
It is the touch you make when exiting to show that your trip has finished. You place a contactless travel card, payment card, or similar device on a reader as you leave.
In context
Here, “tap out” tells passengers to touch their fare medium on a reader when leaving so the end of the journey is registered.
- Situation
- Using rail, bus, metro, ride, and local-transit tickets and service updates
- What it communicates
- instructs passengers to present a fare medium at exit.
Meaning limits
By itself, the term names only the exit action that registers a journey’s end, not any separate rule or result beyond that.
Examples
“At the station exit, she tapped out with her travel card at the reader before walking up to the street.”
“A recorded announcement reminded passengers to tap out as they left the station.”