In message , at 22:24:11 on
Fri, 20 Jan 2012, Peter Masson remarked:
Why can't they just introduce one single smart card for the area, the
way they have in London? And there is compatibility between different
operating agencies as Oystercards are accepted not only on TfL modes
of transport, but also on National Rail in Greater London.

That's easier if there are a finite number of players (eg TfL and
half a dozen "Network Southeast area" National Rail companies).
Scaling it to numerous authorities operating independent bridges
could be a problem. Imagine a different operator was charging tolls
for every road bridge from Tower Bridge to Windsor.

Oyster was originally going to be able to be used for other low value
purchases, such as newspapers and cups of coffee, in the way that
Octopus is used in Hong Kong, but this idea fell foul of banking
regulation.

And this sort of restriction (while banking law is generally to be
admired) is the cause of a great deal of interoperability issues.

It means that customers have to acquire a new smartcard (electronic
purse or ticket wallet) for every different application. I know that in
theory there are "multi-product" cards, but I don't know of any examples
in the wild, and whether for example trying to load a bus pass onto a
library ticket is going to fall foul of red tape at the bus depot or
library.

It's even worse, because each card generally has a separate and
proprietary system for loading more credit. So my child now has a
"school meals" smartcard, but I have to learn a completely new online
site to go top it up. Cash has some interoperability advantages, after
all.

I wonder if paywave credit cards are the silver bullet that'll resolve
all this, although I'm sure there will still be a separate system to log
into to check your balance for school dinners or days left on your bus
pass, and it's unlikely there will be a "hint"[1] of that available at
the point of use.

[1] eg my bus pass shows how many days are left on the reader display,
an Oyster Card will give a "statement" from a TfL vending machine etc.

--
Roland Perry