Upcoming trials will see passengers on the London Underground use a mobile handset as a substitute for their travel cards, reports suggest.
According to The Guardian on Monday, trials will involve phone manufacturer Nokia, mobile operator O2 and Transport for London (TfL), the agency that runs London's public transport network. The report in The Guardian claims that a specific handset is being developed which can be swiped across the Oyster card readers used at the ticket gates of London Underground stations.
As with the Oyster card itself, the handset will probably use a variant of RFID technology called near-field communications (NFC). The same technology has recently been incorporated into some new banking cards so that they can be used in shops for contactless payment of small amounts.
Visa even has a "payWave" credit card that features the capability to make small, contactless payments in shops, as well as functioning as an Oyster card.
Meanwhile, in Japan, many mobile phones already incorporate NFC technology for travel and payment purposes.
None of the parties reported to be involved in the TfL trials were willing to give further details at the time of writing, but it is understood that a formal announcement of the trials will be made later this week.
Talkback
This scheme has come about too soon after many Londoners were conned into getting "Credit Cards" to use for traveling. The poorest people can't get the cheapest fares and are subsidising the wealthy travellers through excessive "cash" fares. A well off traveller pays only £3 per day for unlimited travel within Zones 1 and 2 and the poorest workers have to pay £2 for a single bus journey or £3.50 for a return bus journey. Getting to and from work is a nightmare for the poorest of workers and yet for less money the wealthier ones travel in less than 1/2 the time on the Underground. So what now? We have the Credit Card but will need the mobile phone for even cheaper fares. Bus fares (cash) will increase further so the poorest can give extra subsidies to the wealthiest of travellers. The majority of the poorest of workers can't get a credit card or a mobile phone contract and therefore have to pay daily cash fares. Can Red Ken take some of the back pocket bungs he receives and give some back to the poorest ones? Can O2 charge 20% more for the phones and then provide subsidised ( or free ) phones to the lowest wage earners? To prove the point, just take a walk around Canary Wharf or the City and see the mobiles that are being used (latest and most expensive models) and then walk around Elephant and Castle, Kings Cross etc. and see what phones are being used. You will see why Tesco, Sainsbury's etc. are making loads of profit from selling prehistoric £30 Nokia phones. These Oyster Phones are an unnecessary technological advancement, considering that we have been waiting for over 15 years for LU to get mobile phone connections throughout the Underground network. I would like to see every Londoner boycott this scam and stop the large corporations from profiteering through giving Red Ken a bulging back pocket and from bribing other senior civil servants to get these lucrative contracts. These scams are also illegal as they breach the "Competitions Acts" and also they breach the regulations regarding "compulsary tendering". Did Red Ken and his cronies invite tenders from any credit card company? NO! Did he invite tenders from T-Mobile, Virgin, Vodaphone, Sony Erikson etc. etc.? NO! He was paid to give Nokia and O2 the contracts and that is strictly "illegal" LU (TfL) should be trying to get mobile signals into the tunnels for use by all networks. That would be a leap forward in technology. As a final point, LU staff should be concerned as LU are determined to remove all cash fares on the Underground and therefore, if they can be successful, hundreds of staff will lose their jobs as there will not be needed to sell tickets.
PS - What next? Oyster Pushchairs for mothers with babies, scan your walking stick, what about an Oyster watch? I'd better not put too much as crazy, mad Ken Livingston might just adopt some of these ideas LOL