Useful links:
Transit News | Transit Press Releases | sQuid schemes - Transit

eMoney News

The benefits of smart cards explained
30 Nov 2009

The Oyster smart card system in London helps make rail "more accessible" for the public, according to Taku Fujiyama, a lecturer at the University College London's Centre for Transport Studies.

He explained that people who use the cards for travelling around the capital do not need to experience the trouble of finding the right change to put into a ticket machine - overall, consumer convenience increases. 

"Also, because people don't always pay each time, people don't care as much about what the fares are," Mr Fujiyama added.

The lecturer admitted that one weakness of the system is that cardholders can end up paying more than their usual fare if they do not realise that their monthly or yearly pass has expired.

A report from late 2008 indicated that more than ten million Oyster cards have been issued since the start of the initiative and - at the time of the research - there were five million journeys a day using Oyster cards.