Following the lead of the ‘trusty’ Oyster card, the Royal Bank of Scotland is said to be fitting proximity-payment readers into 25 London taxis as part of a trial. This will allow taxi users that hold a ‘wave and pay’ card, to pay for their journey in a similar fashion to the Oyster card.
We are now able to pay for fares under £10 by pressing a PayPass card against special payment readers in the taxis, providing an end to such cabs that refuse chip and PIN transactions for less than £10 and then charge passengers £1.50 per use. The only question now remaining is, how do we leave a tip for the drivers?
This comes as the BBC reports that thousands of people using London's public transport network may find their electronic Oyster card no longer works after a fault hit the system…
Using the bus on Saturday lunchtime I was amazed to find a notice over the yellow oyster reader saying that my journey would be free of charge. So squashed between lots of people making the most of their freebie journey, I was left feeling slightly smug.
Surprisingly it wasn’t TFL choosing to be nice to London travellers using the buses, Tube, tram and Docklands Light Railway. For a five hour spell on Saturday morning, the system stopped working and some oyster cards used during that time have since stopped working or incurred a fine. Whilst the ticket barriers were left open at train stations, the free bus travel continued for much longer until each individual bus had returned to their garages for the systems to be reset.
Let’s hope that this glitch has been resolved and that the cracked system will become secured following Thursday’s court case to protect the leaked codes.
We are now able to pay for fares under £10 by pressing a PayPass card against special payment readers in the taxis, providing an end to such cabs that refuse chip and PIN transactions for less than £10 and then charge passengers £1.50 per use. The only question now remaining is, how do we leave a tip for the drivers?
This comes as the BBC reports that thousands of people using London's public transport network may find their electronic Oyster card no longer works after a fault hit the system…
Using the bus on Saturday lunchtime I was amazed to find a notice over the yellow oyster reader saying that my journey would be free of charge. So squashed between lots of people making the most of their freebie journey, I was left feeling slightly smug.
Surprisingly it wasn’t TFL choosing to be nice to London travellers using the buses, Tube, tram and Docklands Light Railway. For a five hour spell on Saturday morning, the system stopped working and some oyster cards used during that time have since stopped working or incurred a fine. Whilst the ticket barriers were left open at train stations, the free bus travel continued for much longer until each individual bus had returned to their garages for the systems to be reset.
Let’s hope that this glitch has been resolved and that the cracked system will become secured following Thursday’s court case to protect the leaked codes.
1 comment:
When hopping on the bus on Saturday, I - like many other people - wished the bus driver a Happy Birthday as there was a sign saying "It's my birthday today, so you can all travel for free". What a creative guy...
Post a Comment