The ‘key’ to contactless travel in the UK?
Lots of things happened last week in the field of mobile and contactless. Users of Google's Android Pay mobile app are to receive virtual Christmas crackers that could contain prizes each time they make a payment with the service. At the same time, Android Pay was finally launched in Ireland (beating rival Apple to market). Just in time for Christmas.
In other news, Transport secretary Chris Grayling's announcement on splitting up Network Rail's dominance over track maintenance has caused a stir, but his comments on the fact that rail commuters will be able to use an Oyster-style pay-as-you-go smart card to travel anywhere in the country by the end of 2018 really sparked imaginations. Grayling wrote in an OpEd piece in The Telegraph that, “We need smart ticketing and particularly pay as you go smart cards on commuter routes all around the country. I want that to be happening in the next couple of years." Knowing how the world looks at London, TfL and their embrace of contactless ticketing you would have thought that this approach would have been welcomed.
The approach, certainly. Perhaps not always the implementation, though.
Case in point. Last week it was announced that Kent commuters will soon be able to use a new paperless ticket alternative called the Key and marks Southeastern’s first move towards “paperless commuting” and will be available initially for weekly, monthly or annual season tickets. The system differs, however, from the old familiar Oyster card used across Transport for London’s network, in that the Key will not hold funds or credit. Instead, it will store up to five tickets at any one time – each must be bought and loaded separately. A card with a stored ticket will allow commuters to tap through barriers rather than feed a paper ticket through a machine. Tickets are automatically loaded onto The Key by tapping it onto a smart card reader at a station, either on the automatic ticket barriers or on the ticket machine.
I was not sure that commuters would like this approach but we were all reassured by Southeastern managing director David Statham, who said “From 5 December, our passengers will be able to unlock the benefits of smart, paperless ticketing and speedy, tap-and-go travel. The Key will be easier, quicker, sturdier and more secure.” Rail Minister Paul Maynard also told us what a great idea this was, “This new smart card is great news for season ticket holders on Southeastern who will no longer have to rely on paper tickets. Monday morning queues to buy tickets before you board will also be a thing of the past. With technology like this new card we are finally bringing rail travel into the 21 century.”
However, campaigners have described a new ‘smartcard’ for rail commuters as a waste of money, despite the card receiving backing from the government transport luminaries. The Campaign for Better Transport (CfBT) said the Key, the new paperless ticket from rail operator Southeastern, provides no real benefits for commuters. Lianna Etkind, public transport campaigner at CfBT, commented, ‘This is a real missed opportunity for Southeastern commuters. They were promised a smart card and all they are getting is a plastic version of the paper ticket they already have. This is a total waste of money a far as most passengers are concerned. We would have hoped Southeastern would’ve taken this opportunity to use the new smart to card to introduce things like automatic refunds for delays or cancellations and season tickets for part-time workers, but unfortunately for passengers this is not the case.’
Transport Secretary Chris Grayling has praised the new card, saying “We now need to see other train companies offering similar choices to their passengers where the equipment is already available to support this and we need to ensure that the infrastructure needed spreads across all of our major cities.” Mr Grayling said he was ‘delighted’ that the chancellor made £80m funding available in the Autumn Statement to support further infrastructure roll out for smart ticketing by the end of 2018.
CfBT said it would also have liked to see the new ‘smartcard’ scheme include things like the ability to link up with Transport for London’s Oyster card or buses to allow for door to door journeys, price capping and the option of pay-as-you-go travel without having to pre-load a ticket onto the card. According to Southeastern, The £5.5m project is part of the Department for Transport’s (DfT) South East Flexible Ticketing (SEFT) programme, which could be the subject of a probe by the National Audit Office after around £40m of the £80m budget achieved very little. (Look at those numbers again and roll your eyes!).
With so many opportunities out there for contactless ticketing, I really don’t understand how so much money is being thrown at solutions that no-one (read commuters) seems happy with and that really don’t appear to show scalability or interconnection with other, more advanced solutions (CIPURSE?). I get the impression this ‘Key’ was a project that was finished so that everyone could ‘move on’.
Not really the proof of the vision that Mr. Grayling outlined, is it? Any feedback from our transport-focused readers?
Steve Atkins
Contactless Intelligence
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