From BBC news online http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/
6316245.stm

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Train firms to adopt Oyster cards

Train operators have agreed to introduce Oyster cards in London after
accepting a £20m grant from the mayor.

Ten firms operating surface rail services into London will share the
subsidy to install pay-as-you-go Oyster reading equipment.

The electronic cards are used across the city on the Tube, buses,
trams and Docklands Light Railway network.

New equipment will have to be fitted in about 260 London stations
which do not have fully automatic gates.

Proper funding

George Muir, of the Association of Train Operating Companies, said
details of the proposal will need to be ironed out.

"All London train operators will be responding positively to Transport
for London's proposal for Oyster pay-as-you-go," he said.

Mr Muir said because further discussion is needed to reach agreement
on the proper level of funding for different parts of the network.

Train operators are also calling for progress in dual-reading gates at
London's stations so they accept ITSO electronic cards.

The ITSO card, similar to the Oyster card, will be the standard smart
card for railway passengers outside London.
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Wow - looks like the Mayor's risky brinkmanship has paid off. As Paul
C previously predicted they left it to the last moment - today (Jan
31st) is the deadline the Mayor gave them to accept his offer of £20
million funding to install Oyster kit at stations. All ten London TOCs
have accepted - a number which either counts Heathrow Connect (a FGW/
BAA joint venture) as a separate TOC, or otherwise includes Virgin
Cross-Country (who run a few trains a day that stop at Kensington
Olympia and Easr Croydon).

Now the fun starts - actually implementing the Oyster Pay-as-you-go
system on the National Rail (NR) network in London - there's some
tricky decisions to be made regarding what route the system will
assume a passenger takes between A and B and thus what fare will
apply, and also what fare scale will apply to NR journeys, as well as
many other issues. No information as to when the whole system will be
up and running, though I'd think this all needs a good amount of time
to get sorted out.