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UK towns to get Oyster system

A smart-ticketing strategy aimed at introducing Oyster card-style schemes in England’s big towns by 2015 has been announced by the Government.

Nine of the largest urban areas in England will get £20 million of funding to bring smart ticketing in as soon as possible, said Transport Secretary Lord Adonis.

The plan is to help passengers by reducing ticket queuing times, removing the need to carry cash and providing them with easier journeys between different modes of transport.

Bus operators who equip their vehicles with smart ticketing will reportedly get an 8% increase in Government grants.

Oyster cards in London - used for pay-as-you-go or as season tickets - are “read” by main line rail and Tube ticket gates and can also be used on buses in the capital.

Lord Adonis said: “Our immediate goal is to see integrated multi-modal smart ticketing schemes, similar to the Oyster scheme in London but using the ITSO (Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation) specification, in England’s major urban areas by 2015.

“We expect that urban schemes will provide a base from which further expansion can occur, and anticipate that that there will be some local integrated ITSO smart ticketing schemes in every area of the country by 2020. The Department (for Transport) will also continue to put smart ticketing requirements into the rail franchises as they come up for renewal.”

He went on: “Longer term, our aim is to see customers possibly being given a choice of ticketing media, potentially including bank cards and mobile phones and improved links between ticketing and information provision to make public transport use an easier and more attractive option to passengers.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .