On May 23, 5:46 pm, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Fri, 23 May 2008 06:23:54 -0700 (PDT), Neil Williams

wrote:
Chris wrote:

I was at a User Group AGM last Tuesday & we were informed by the
Comminications Director that LM are shortly to introduce their
smartcard technology - their 'Oystercard'.

Initially only for the zones around Birmingham (1 - 5), but when
questioned further by yours truly, she stated that their final
intention is to have it valid across their network, and when I
questioned an extension of zones, she confirmed that they'd be zonal
fares from Watford Junction to Liverpool and other routes in between.

Sounds like there will be a separate farescale in order to accommodate
zonal fares which rather implies some form of PAYG facility and possibly
a modified season ticket system for beyond the existing Centro zonal
system.

Too little time to explore things further, unfortunately - but one to
bear in mind should anyone talk to LM management.
I had noticed that black pads have appeared on the ticket barriers at
MK Central and Bletchley - thought they were just for sticking adverts
to, but could these actually be smartcard targets?

Sounds like a reader to me.

Wonder if it'll be Oyster compatible so my Travelcard season can be
issued on one? Presumably it also has to be valid across TOCs,
though, otherwise it's pretty useless...

I doubt it very much. It'll have to be ITSO as a minimum. Given the
Birmingham emphasis they are probably not thinking about Oyster at all
and I suspect nothing will even be advertised at the southern of their
patch given the risk of confusion with Oyster. My guess is that the
technical risk of combining Oyster and ITSO processing is being left to
someone (anyone!) to deal with. Given the lack of noise from the SWT
front and no more Captain Deltic articles I suspect things may still be
mired in a mess.

--
Paul C

An interesting document on Oyster / ITSO compatibility is at

http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/scienceres...teroperability