The UK government is proposing the introduction of an England-wide smart ticketing system that will let travelers pay for bus and train journeys using their NFC-enabled bank cards and mobile phones. This plan come in the wake of London's successful Oyster card system, which is now used for 78% of bus and tube journeys.
The idea is a national ticketing infrastructure using the government-backed ITSO smartcard specification which will enable 'tickets' to work anywhere in the country. Travelers could then use mobile phones and bank cards to pay directly for journeys by tapping them against specially equipped readers.
A consultation on the ticketing proposals can be found at: http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/open/smartticketing/ or click on the post title.
The proposal explains the concepts of smart and integrated ticketing, summarizes the current smart and integrated ticketing schemes in England, outlines the department’s vision for the future of smart and integrated ticketing and seeks to learn the consultees’ views on the subject and how much involvement they feel the Department should have in implementing such schemes.
