I really must be missing something. Perhaps there's a clue in the fact that all three systems are the product of de facto monopolies: you do things their way or not at all. In the case of London Transport, they can do away with staff and keep a much closer eye on what you're doing and where you're going. With the driving licence, the picture card gives the police and other authority figures a semblance of the national ID card that they so dearly covet, without having to go through the tiresome business of legally creating one. In both cases, the schemes have been heavily promoted as being of great benefit to us hapless users thanks to IT: puncture that smokescreen, though, and the technology is there for quite a different purpose.
The only people to come out of this with any kudos are the Americans. They have the honesty not to pretend anything: if you're not prepared to jump through random hoops to get your visa, you're not motivated enough to get in. At least you know what you're dealing with -- that sort of open disdain for the individual lets you know where you stand. A bit more of that kind of truth in IT in general, and who knows? It might even end up being designed to help everyone, just like it says on the package.
Talkback
Just read Rupert's piece on the new Oyster Card...
What is all the hassle with the new Oyster Card on London Transport? I live in Germany and here the scheme is much simpler.
1. You purchase your monthly/season ticket
2. You put it in your wallet
3. When it expires you remove it from your wallet and throw it away.
3.a. If you are unlucky, you might be asked once or twice during the tickets lifetime to show it to the Inspector - around a €50 fine if you don't have a valid ticket.
You don't need to show the ticket to get on a bus/tram/S-Bahn/U-Bahn. It just sits in your pocket/handbag.
There are no ticket gates to go through.
If you buy a single journey card or day card, you must use the old puch system (there is a time-stamper in every station, usually near the ticket machine) which puts the time, date and station number on the card (this allows you to, for example, buy 20 day cards at the same time and use them when you want).
What wonderful piece of technology is this? I hear you ask. Wireless? High powered Electronic Sensors? Nothing so high tech. The tickets are printed on paper, there is a little hologram strip running across it to prove it is a genuine ticket, but that's it.
How does it work? HONOUR!
Crazy? It sounds like a daft antiquated English notion to me, but here it works. People buy there tickets and use the trains without the hassle of big queues to get in and out of the stations.
It is free access to whoever wants it... You can get on the platform and say goodbye to your sweetheart, be standing on the platform when they arrive, no worries.
You need a lot less staff and machinery as well, so it is very economical to run. You just need some ticket inspectors to randomly ride on trains and buses etc. and inspect the tickets.
Sure some people try to break the system and ride for free and if you are lucky, you can get away with it. Sometimes I've travelled the whole month without seeing an inspector, other times, I've seen one on every vehicle on a journey.
Still, the unions would probably be up in arms about the changes in the UK, freedom for the commuters, more efficient, cheaper and cost effective service requiring less staff? Nope, can't have that! ;-)
München, for example has more stops than London Transport (underground and trams, don't know about buses) and covers a larger area. The cost of a monthly card is about 48€. The trains are modern, clean and fairly punctual - even with between 1-2m of snow on the lines/roads over night, they didn't run more than 10 min late last winter.
One of the key facts in this article is wrong. You don't need anything other than the oyster card itself to travel around London whether or not you have your ticket inspected or you want to extend it. The 'record card,' as it is called, is purely for your benefit.
I agree that it is an oversight that some of the people who nead to be able to read the information on the oyster card cannot, but it is one from which the consumer benefits - the fact that a number of train companies, for example, have failed to invest in the technology to read the cards, means that any oyster card is effectively valid on their services.