DfT plans national travel smartcard

Londoners have been using the pre-pay Oyster cards to swipe their way onto tubes and buses since 2003, and a spokesperson for the transport department said: "Smartcard technology can play a key role in improving the passenger experience by making it easier and quicker to buy and use tickets. "That is why we are working with bus and train operators to introduce this technology across the country." He said that the deployment of smartcard technology is one of a number of measures being considered by the coalition government to modernise the country's transport system. In an interview with the Sunday Express transport minister Norman Baker pledged to give rail passengers a third off their fares if they have to use rail replacement bus services instead of a train. Speaking about smartcards, Baker told the paper: "The aim is that you get one smartcard ticket which enables you to use it whether you are in Bristol on the bus, on the tube in London or in Newcastle on the Metro. If you give people one card, they'll have more of a psychological incentive and more confidence to make journeys." "It would remove a lot of the administrative work of selling tickets and so that would ultimately make fares cheaper." On the time scale for the introduction of a national travel smartcard, the spokesperson said the transport secretary will "set out final proposals on these areas in due course". Alan Mo, senior analyst at Kable, said: "A national multi-modal travel smartcard scheme will face many commercial and administrative hurdles. "If the Department for Transport convinces train operating companies about its benefits, complicated reimbursement requirements will open up IT and business process opportunities for ITSO certified suppliers. "But the scheme remains a distant ideal, and near term opportunities will remain at the local and regional level, where there have already been successful implementations of ITSO-based smart cards".