View Single Post
  #18   Report Post  
Old December 13th 12, 01:31 PM posted to uk.transport.london
CJB CJB is offline
external usenet poster
 
First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Jun 2007
Posts: 275
Default London buses to offer contactless payment card option fromtomorrow (12/12/12)

On Dec 13, 1:26*pm, "tim....." wrote:
"Neil Williams" wrote in message

...

Mizter T wrote:


I (genuinely) totally disagree with you - I think this will eventually
become one of the so-called 'killer applications' that pushes the
contactless card payment method into the mainstream.


(And FWIW, I haven't got a contactless card in my wallet either!)


I have two, and it means I have to get my Oyster out of my wallet now,
while I used to be able to just bang the whole wallet on the reader.


But yes, I agree, this will become a "killer app" - particularly for
non-London bus companies who don't wish to spend a fortune on the
infrastructure to do a PAYG smartcard when the banks can do it for them..


Is the bit that you are saving going to be significant?

You're still going to have to have a reader in every bus.

You still need to download the data each day to some central collation
point.

You need to provide some sort of intelligent ticketing - most rural bus
companies offer discount returns.

You'll need a "complaints" department to handle mis-reads.


And if the bus service is curtailed - that is cut short of its
destination - then when you board the bus behind you end up paying
twice. That's a scam that TfL have been running for years. It nets
them millions of pounds extra profit. Tourists are usually affected by
this the most. CJB.