London Banter - View Single Post

[email protected] · September 17th 14, 11:36 PM posted to uk.transport.london

In article , (Mizter T) wrote:

On 17/09/2014 21:58, wrote:
[...]
I don't get this. A contactless card will be linked to an account in
the TfL back office. So if a cardholder shows contactless card and
railcard to staff member why shouldn't they record the discount on the
account just as they do now sort of?

Two answers...

(1) It gives you something to remain annoyed about.

Not that silly! Not handling railcards limits the ability of contactless
to replace Oyster.

(2) Using what (PCI DSS compliant) mechanism?

Huh? How does the suggestion I made differ from the current process
which records the entitlement on the Oyster card instead of in the back
office?

The current process doesn't involve dealing with payment cards,
entering payment card information into a system and transmitting it
securely to a database. Once you start dealing with payment cards
it's a whole different scenario.

Plus, obvious point but the current process is designed around the
existing Oyster card system - you couldn't just graft on CPCs to it.

But they ARE using contactless cards now. They add data to the back office
database to enable the card to be billed. Railcard status is just a bit of
status data to add in to the calculations. What's more complex?

--
Colin Rosenstiel