Ticketing and Concessionary Travel on Public Transport - United ...

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Oyster on rail services in London
Oyster is available on all London Overground services <strong>and</strong> on interavailable routes on
other National Rail services. Oyster is available from around 100 stations served by
National Rail.
The rules governing what journeys can be made from these stations are complicated as not
all services accept Oyster Pay-as-you-Go. This causes a large degree of customer confusion.
On the London Overground, which TfL took over in November 2007, Oyster Pay-as-you-
Go is accepted at all stations <strong>and</strong> on all routes. Additionally Chiltern <strong>and</strong> c2c accept Oyster
on all their routes within London; One Railway (now National Express East Anglia)accepts
Oyster on all services in the Hackney area; <strong>and</strong> London Midl<strong>and</strong> accepts Oyster between
London Euston <strong>and</strong> Watford Junction.
The roll out of Oyster to the remaining London stations depends on when the Train
Operating Companies <strong>and</strong> TfL conclude the commercial agreements. TfL expects this to be
in 2009.
Smartcards in London—Oyster <strong>and</strong> ITSO
46. A major dilemma is that the biggest smartcard system in the UK is not an ITSO system,
but the London Oyster. Despite its success, Oyster cannot be developed into a national
system. Oyster was developed before ITSO <strong>and</strong> they are currently incompatible.
47. An interoperability study is underway, funded by the Government, to assess the
feasibility of adding ITSO readers to the Oyster system. It was suggested to us by TranSys
that it would be possible to produce a single card containing both types of chip, but the
arrangements required to support both systems would be complex. There are also potential
problems with the longer time it takes to read <strong>and</strong> write to an ITSO card compared to
Oyster. Although measured in milliseconds, the difference can be critical at busy stations
or on buses in London.
48. Given London’s status as the most heavily used public transport network in the UK,
<strong>and</strong> its position as a major interchange point for National Rail journeys as well as several
major airports, it would seem to be perverse if it were not compatible with the national
smartcard st<strong>and</strong>ard. However, there are at least three major issues that need very careful
consideration if compatibility is to be achieved.
a) Firstly, doubts exist about value for money. According to TfL, to make London ITSOcompliant
would cost in the region of £50 million, 48 yet dem<strong>and</strong> to use ITSO products
(as opposed to Oyster) on the London network is currently small <strong>and</strong> growth
uncertain. Since most users of TfL services are London residents or regular commuters
who already have an Oyster card it is not clear what problem is being solved. 49
48 Q 310 but see also Ev 122 in which Trainline.com suggests that an ITSO-compliant smartcard could be used on the
Oyster system without modifying existing gates <strong>and</strong> systems.
49 Ev 160