On Fri, 06 Jan 2006 00:02:56 +0000, Arthur Figgis
] wrote:

On Thu, 05 Jan 2006 18:20:56 +0000, Paul Corfield
wrote:

The government could make the TOCs adopt Oyster or any form of Smartcard
technology tomorrow if it was so minded.

But could it (short of passing a new law or paying all the costs), if
it (presumably) isn't in the franchise agreements? If the TOCs have
all reached the same conclusion not to fit it, might this not tell us
something about whether it is worth the TOCs' while to do it?

Well it does not appear to be in the franchise agreements or else it
would be announced when they are awarded. I think it is fair to say
that government pays a very hefty slice of any rail franchise's costs.
As the paymaster and the specifier of the service the government could
fix this overnight.

The problem with the TOCs is that they live or die by their cost and
revenue base. They have no assets. Therefore anything that they perceive
will raise their costs or damage their revenue base they will not touch.
TfL has offered to deal with the cost element - up to a point - while
the TOCs seem unable to decide if products like Pre-Pay are an useful
addition to their product range. Similarly they seem uninterested in the
additional flexibility that Smartcard could bring them alongside the
usage info generated via the card validation process. They want 100%
guarantees that they can't lose out - that isn't possible in my view and
therefore they have obviously concluded they aren't prepared to take the
risk of adopting the technology.

As I have said already the only person who loses is the customer.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!