On 24 Sep 2006 10:32:55 -0700, "jonmorris"
wrote:

If every company could buy a working system 'off the shelf' then it
wouldn't be that much a problem to do. You don't have one person
(especially not a Government) trying to install it on buses, tubes,
trains, coaches etc - you have a recognised standard, then any number
of companies can produce the equipment to work with it. Every operator
can brand their own smartcards, but they are still interchangeable.

That is what ITSO is doing: http://www.itso.org.uk/

If Oyster became a default standard there could be problems with
everyone being locked into one supplier (a bit like Microsoft and
computer operating systems, perhaps).

Once Oyster equipment can talk to ITSO kit, everyone should be happy.


If the card system held credit, like Oyster, you could operate a simple
pay as you go system on anything - and why wouldn't that work abroad?
Well, apart from the currency conversion issue until we get the Euro.
Such a system could even be rolled out to taxis. Whoever debits the
card gets the money (less a commission fee) rather like a credit or
debit card (but unlike those, you can swipe in/out at gates etc).

Effectively, it becomes an e-cash system. Funnily enough, Oyster had
visions of their card working for loads of things - which presumably
fell down when it became clear that outside of the transport industry,
there probably wasn't much interest in installing the equipment.

AIUI the transport operators would risk getting bogged down in the
rules govering banks, credit cards, etc.
--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK