Transport for London has shortlisted seven bids for
systems to allow Oystercards to function as electronic
money.
Seven bids have made the shortlist to give TfL's smartcard
system an e-money capability.
TfL wants to develop Oystercards, which are currently only used
to pay for tube, bus and some rail journeys in the capital, to pay
for simple transactions, such as parking tickets, fast-food meals
and newspapers. More than 2.2 million people already have
Oystercards.
TfL's managing director of finance and planning, Jay Walder,
said, “Oyster has the largest customer base of all smartcards in
the UK.”
The shortlisted bids include Barclays, EDS, PayPal and RBS. TfL
will begin trials with the winning bidder in late 2005 or early
2006.
