Suzy, Drinker Of Coffee

TfL Oyster cards now finally valid on National Rail trains – soon

After much neogciation, TfL have now struck agreement with National Rail to use prepay and travelcards issued on Oyster smartcards, on overground National Rail trains around the greater London area.


Transport Secretary and Mayor of London announce new Oyster deal

A deal that will help London's rail passengers get the full benefit of Oyster cards and lay the foundations for a nationally accepted smartcard ticketing scheme has been struck.
The details of the announcement were set out by the new Transport Secretary, Douglas Alexander and London Mayor Ken Livingstone today.
Transport for London has agreed to pay for Oyster validation equipment to be provided for all London rail stations in Zones 1 - 6.
It is a significant breakthrough that offers train companies the opportunity to accept Oyster pay-as-you go products on their services.
Transport for London has also agreed to work with the Department for Transport to ensure that all Oyster equipment is capable of accepting other smart cards.
These are currently under development for use on public transport across the country by the Integrated Ticketing Smartcard Organisation (ITSO).

But... this came just one day after…

TfL shelves Oyster e-money
Reconsiders 'uneconomical'

Transport for London (TfL) has taken a step backwards in its plans to extend the use of the Oyster smart card to payments in shops. A TfL spokesperson told Government Computing News that it has decided it is "not economical" to carry on with the plan it has followed over the past year.
In July of last year it announced a shortlist of potential partners with which it would discuss the possibilities of adding new services to the Oyster card. These could include using the card – currently used to prepay for travel - at parking machines or paying for low value items at news agents, supermarkets and fast food outlets.
Its discussions have since led it to believe it has to reconsider the plan, as it could not fully define the procurement.
"No one in Britain has done it before, and we did not know what exactly to procure," the spokesperson said. "We've cancelled the notice in OJEU that said we were looking for a partner, but we are still interested in getting it up and running. "It may be that someone comes to us or it may be that we ourselves have an idea on how we can do it." There is no timetable for further developing the idea, and the spokesperson said that, as the Oyster card was originally developed to pay for travel, the change in plan would not affect the economic structure of the scheme.

The card was originally said to be non-ITSO compliant – TfL made up their own specification – which may be why they’ve considered it uneconomical. Nice to see what a difference a day makes, i.e. not a lot...

posted by Suzy Scott @ 23:42