On 24.10.2017 11:03 PM, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 16:07:00 on Tue, 24 Oct
2017, Clank remarked:

If HEX had wanted smartcards it would have introduced them by now as
it's a simple self contained operation. I expect it is far keener to
get TfL's contactless card system installed off the back of Oyster
acceptance. Being able to use bank cards will likely appeal to a
large proportion of their regular users.

I wonder how many foreign-issued bank cards will work with the
contactless system?

If anything the UK is backward compared to the rest of the world on
contactless acceptance,

I was more concerned about contactless issuing, and the risks of
accepting foreign cards whose creditworthiness status can't be
determined in real time.

No ticket purchase and no queues will appeal to business travellers.

As a much travelled businessman (in general terms) I can assure you
that the lack of a paper receipt/ticket to attach to my expenses claim
is a huge disadvantage.

Other systems solve this problem easily, as you've been told before. NS's
system for Chipkaart produces a very nice online expenses claim receipt
(which is specifically valid for Dutch tax purposes in the case of
nominal/registered cards,) which is far more convenient than toting around
bits of paper - the same can be done for contractless cards.

No doubt I'd have to set up accounts [remember to, and have time to] for
every balkanised transport operator I used on a trip.

I see no reason why a printout from the TfL website would be
unacceptable for exes purposes

That's one of the Balkanised systems one would need to register with.

You really use that word far too often, and completely inappropriately*.

To the best of my knowledge there has never been a UN World Transit Operator
that was once responsible for all the planet's metro systems but has sadly
fragmented into warring factions.

Please find another word to describe "it's inexplicable to me that the trams
in Istanbul are not run by the same company as the buses in Belgrade".


(Personally I find it not remotely frustrating - possibly partly because I'm
not so tight I try to put every 50 euro cent bus journey on expenses - and
indeed collecting transit cards from around the world is something of a
guilty pleasure of mine. Favourite for imperious imagery is Troika... I
do have a soft spot for my recently acquired JoJo though, mainly for the
irrepressible urge to say "Mojo-jojoooooooo" whenever using it. I'll be
rather sad when they're all replaced by EMV contactless.)




* There *is* an appropriate use in this context, and it's the situation here
in Bucharest where we used to have a single smartcard (ActivCard) for all
transport, but after a row over the surface transport operator (RATB) not
paying its bills to the underground operator (Metrorex) the latter started
refusing to accept the former's tickets. Rumours of a resumption of
relations are always in the air but never seem to come to fruition.
Meanwhile the world has moved on and Metrorex now accepts EMV contactless
at all stations so it'll be somewhat moot by the time they do.