ContactlessNews | National transit card in the works for England

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National transit card in the works for England

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) has revealed plans to implement a national smart card for public transportation on English trains, trams and buses, according to railnews.co.uk.

UK Transport Minister Norman Baker plans for the national smart card to be an “all-mode” device, and thus compatible with existing smart cards already issued by Passenger Transport Executives, says railnews.co.uk.

Under the project, the DfT will issue grants of £20 million to nine large urban areas in England in order to develop the system.

As of now, the DfT’s proposal is only for England, but railnews.co.uk says Scotland and Wales may join in on the project, creating a unified transit card network over all of Britain.

UK-regional bus group Bluestar has launched a new transit card for discounted weekly and monthly travel on its network, according to Southern Daily Echo.

The new card enables cashless fare for any service on the Bluestar Network in Southampton, Eastleigh and Winchester. It also supports travel on Wilts & Dorset buses and Southern Vectis on the Isle of Wight, both of which are owned and operated by Go-Ahead Group.

Cubic responds to Clipper card exploits

Cubic Transportation Systems, distributor of the electronic transit Clipper card, has responded to the recent news of a Ph.D. student in IT Security allegedly breaking the encryption in Clipper and similar transit cards.

Blackpool parking gears for contactless payments

Blackpool, a seaside town situated along England’s west coast, has installed a number of Parkeon contactless-enabled parking pay stations.

For the installation, Blackpool Council opted for the Parkeon Strada pay station terminal. This new, solar-powered terminal is equipped with contactless card readers, accepting contactless payment-enabled mobile phones and various wave and pay bank cards.

Cape Town goes contactless on taxi fares

The Peninsula Taxi Association (PTA) in South Africa has launched a electronic fare collection system, granting commuters cashless fare and discounts when using the newly developed contactless-enabled transit card, according to The Cape Times.

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