London's annual and monthly season ticket holders have begun using a new smart card-based ticketing system developed by the TranSys consortium led by San Diego-based Cubic Corp. and EDS.
The new Oyster smart card, which is being introduced gradually to the public beginning with annual and monthly season ticket holders, went into use for the first time last fall when 80,000 of London's Underground and bus staff began using it. Since its introduction, 12 million Oyster transactions have been logged.
The Oyster card system is designed to provide faster passage through gates and onto buses and greater convenience in terms of how and where customers buy travel. It also will provide greater security, helping to reduce ticket fraud in a travel system that has around six million users per day.
By logging onto the www.oystercard.comWeb site and using Cubic's new "AutoLoad" technology, annual and monthly season tickets holders can renew their season passes online. Alternatively they can renew by telephone. The passes are then automatically and electronically loaded onto customers' Oyster cards when ticket holders next pass through gates at their nominated tube stations. By the summer, access to the card will be extended to station ticket offices and the 2,300 conveniently located retail outlets. Within a year all 350,000 annual and monthly season ticket holders will be upgraded to Oyster and during winter 2003 the new pay as you go product, "Pre Pay," will enable even more customers to benefit from Oyster.
Cubic has installed 16,000 remote ticketing devices on buses and in Tube stations across London including the fast-transaction "Queue Buster" fare machine. The company has also supplied and fitted new gates for 270 stations. Training is being given to transport staff on the new fare collection equipment and software.
