Oyster card may face chop as Tube plans credit card ticket system
(Guest post from Shiny Shiny)
The Oyster card was a small revolution in ticket payments when it was launched less than a decade ago, but it seems it may soon become obsolete. Transport for London has confirmed that by the end of 2012, it will accept contactless credit and debit cards at the tube turnstiles, according to The Register.
Card payments on the bus will be enabled earlier in 2012, in time for the Olympics, but due to the work involved the tube will follow only later in the year. While changing the ticket system is quite complicated, it is cheaper for TFL to deal directly with the banks, omitting the Oyster middle-man.
There are some problems related to the project still – such as the time it would take for the system to call up the bank to check if there’s any money available. Commentators are speculating the solution may be to check this later in order to avoid massive pile-ups at the turnstiles, and then catch the cardholder as they tap out to leave the underground system.
I for one will miss the Oyster card, which feels like an integral part of London life. But an all-in-one chip that covers payment as well as travel is appealing too – actually we can probably just go ahead and implant this magic chip directly into our phone handsets?
6 comments
The future is being able to pay with your Smartphone. These NFC chips are already in some Smartphones like the Google Nexus S and will be in the iPhone 5 and the next iPad and all the cool next generation smartphones.
Recent studies forecast that the most developed countries are going to need more and more highly qualified professionals around twice as many as their educational systems will be able to produce, or so it is thought. As a result there is an urgent need for developing countries which send students
some nail varnish remover, patience and a bit of skill the chip and copper antenna can be removed then put anywhere…a magic wand (which will make people laugh…) or a rubber wrist band (which is better as it won’t then interfere with other cards / kit using the same tech and you can still travel if you loose your moby or wallet…)
some nail varnish remover, patience and a bit of skill the chip and copper antenna can be removed then put anywhere…a magic wand (which will make people laugh…) or a rubber wrist band (which is better as it won’t then interfere with other cards / kit using the same tech and you can still travel if you loose your moby or wallet…)
some nail varnish remover, patience and a bit of skill the chip and copper antenna can be removed then put anywhere…a magic wand (which will make people laugh…) or a rubber wrist band (which is better as it won’t then interfere with other cards / kit using the same tech and you can still travel if you loose your moby or wallet…)
some nail varnish remover, patience and a bit of skill the chip and copper antenna can be removed then put anywhere…a magic wand (which will make people laugh…) or a rubber wrist band (which is better as it won’t then interfere with other cards / kit using the same tech and you can still travel if you loose your moby or wallet…)
Comments are closed.