I live in London and use public transport daily. I have a number of gripes about public transport. Most specifically it’s over crowded, the temperature often being to hot in the summer as some modes of transport don’t have air conditioners and in the winter a number of buses don’t have heating turned on.

To be fair these issues are slowly being addressed but my main gripe is the Oyster Card.

Don’t get me wrong, I am very grateful to have an affordable transport system that I can use at any time of day to get to almost anywhere in London. It’s definitely a luxury. (I’m not saying it is a luxury service, I am saying the ability to travel at any time to almost anywhere I can think of at an “affordable” price is.)

“The Oyster card is a form of electronic ticketing used on public transport services within the Greater London area of the United Kingdom. It is promoted by Transport for London and is valid on a number of different travel systems across London including London Underground, buses, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), London Overground, trams, some river boat services and most National Rail services within the London Fare Zones.” – Wiki

The Oyster Card came into effect in 2003 and I have been using it since about 2005. At first I thought it was a good idea but now I feel like it is an “okay” solution at best. Mainly because not being able to check how much money is on your Oyster Card at any time is incredibly frustrating.

You can go to a shop or station but, what if your local shop doesn’t have an Oyster machine-reader-thingy? …What if you have to get a bus to the station?

…Or the one that catches me out quite often; you decide to make a journey late at night and can’t remember how much is on your Oyster.

All the shops are closed (in some cases stations can be too) and you don’t have any change on you to pay for a fair.
I can assure you it’s not much fun having to get off the bus which comes once an hour to go and look for a cash point and a place to top up then having to wait forever for the next bus to come along on a cold night.

I think that it is time that Transport For London (TFL) move on from the Oyster Card and they clearly agree.

I have read that they are planning to move to a Near Field Communication (NFC) system where you use your credit or debit card to “tap in” and pay for your travel.

This is a step in the right direction but, personally I don’t like this system because I prefer a “buffer system” so if my card/ details are stolen only a minimal amount of money is at risk.

This is why I like systems like Paypal and pre-paid cards which people use to buy things online.

There is also the option where you have the NFC technology in your phone which was being trialed at one stage. I don’t think this is a good solution either because it means that we all have to move to devices that support this and that may limit the handsets that you can purchase. With the carriers/ networks trying to lock us into a 18-24 month contract and with a large number of people on pay-as-you go who may not be able to purchase the latest smartphone, take up of this platform will be slower than it should be. I also think it would put the carriers and mobile phone manufactures in a situation where they could charge ridiculous prices for phones with the technology built in as they control the options.

I am also worried about the opportunity for people having a machine that can scan all of the NFC devices in a carriage or at a bus stop, giving some crook your financial information.

As a result, I feel it is a shame they have chosen this option.

My Suggestion

2D (or QR) Barcodes.
I would like TFL to move to a 2D barcode system that would allow people to download an app that will have the user sign up and and once they have, it would assign them a 2D barcode that can be scanned at the barriers and let them through.

2D Barcodes are not a new technology, they have been around for a number of years and they have been used in a number of different places for example: here, here, here and here. Oh, and here.

They are a highly portable and swift way of transferring a small amount of information between devices.

There are a number of reasons why I would prefer this system.

1. I would be able to open up the app and check my balance at any time!
2. Anyone could sign up for this system at any time, they don’t have to be at home online, they don’t have to wait for a card or a new phone, they can use a vast number of phones already in the market.
3. …following on from the last point, this means that tourists who have just come into the country could see adverts for this app either while on the plane or at the airport and download it onto the device they already have. AND in a language of their choice. The app could also contain useful information about rules, etiquette, tips on how to navigate the the various modes of transport and anything else they might need.
4. It means that you don’t have to pay a deposit for a card that you may lose.
5. You will always have it with you. (I am more likely to go back home if I have forgotten my phone than wallet. I know that’s just me.)
6. You can top it up at any time, all you have to do is open the app and select “top up” so you can do it while you are waiting at the bus stop. Obviously I would like the auto top-up facility to be an option.
7. If you lose your phone while you’re out, you can use a mates phone, just log in with your details and then hand the phone back when you’re through the barrier.
8. You could set up accounts for your children and then log into their account to top it up for them, when you aren’t even in the country.
9. You would be able to see instantly if someone is using your account as the app could provide a list of your previous modes of transport and/or destinations.
10. If you suspect someone has got hold of your barcode (taken a screen shot/ printed it out or something) you could go into the app and instantly request a new barcode.
11. TFL could provide updates to people about services that are relevant to them as the system will know what routes/ transport is used by that specific user.
12. If a mate or family member needed to get home and lost their phone or didn’t have any money I could send them a screen shot or print out the barcode and they could use it to get home. Once they are home I would just request a new barcode.
13. It would mean that people who travel in and out of the country would have one less item to worry about. Let’s face it, if you moved to another country for six months you’d probably lose your Oyster Card. I know I would. If it was an app you would just download the latest version to your current handset and click on the “Forgotten Password” link.
14. It would also allow you to have several accounts. If you want to claim expenses at work for specific travel you could log into a separate account set up for you by the people you work for and use that account when appropriate. (The app could also have a send receipt to email address, so you could send the details straight to someone in the HR or Finance department).
15. The app could also make real time alternative journey suggestions, this would mean that if a specific train is running at over capacity for any reason it could suggest that you might want to take the bus so you can have a more pleasant journey.
16. No longer having to make these plastic cards would be better for the environment.

So there are some situations where this might not be ideal:

“My phone doesn’t have an app store.” – You could still get a barcode from the website and have it sent to your phone. You could print it out on your home computer or pick one up at one of the places where you currently get Oyster Cards from. But I would recommend that you check that your phone really doesn’t support a barcode system/ app as they work on some really old phones.

“My child is too young to own a mobile.” – Fair enough. Have they got an MP3 player that can support apps? …if not they will have to settle for the printed barcode.

“Getting my phone out at stations would be tempting to muggers.” – I feel like TFL sould be providing safe environments for their users. If you are scared of getting your phone out in a well lit station or on a bus, (don’t you answer calls in public?) Aren’t you worried that they would want to steal your wallet when you get it out to “tap” your Oyster Card? …either way, I suggest that you frequent safer destinations, carry a gun and a printed barcode.

“This will be too expensive to implement.” – I disagree. TFL would need to hire a few app developers who would build an app for each of the popular mobile platforms, they could even build a web app which would mean they don’t necessarily have to maintain several apps, but that isn’t a huge cost anyway (relatively speaking).

The barcodes are read by cameras, they don’t necessarily have to be advanced cameras they can be surprisingly cheap when you consider you can use the same ones that are sold in the 10s of millions to mobile phone manufactures.

I could explain how you would build the technology behind this platform but this post is not the time or the place. Let’s just say my father has spent my whole life working on software/ hardware projects and from that experience I would be shocked if the system cost more to implement than the Oyster Card system.

“It would take longer to scan the barcode than it would to scan my Oyster Card “ – Don’t be silly. You’ll probably have the phone in your hand anyway because you were skipping a track/ reading a message/ playing a game/ on a website.

Daily Use

Well ideally I would have a video crafted by the guys at Mammu like TFL would normally go with at this point…

…but that is out of my price range so you are going to have to make do with more text.

I envisage daily use would be something like this for the average user…

Just before you leave your house to you would log into the app, which would be password protected. Check your balance to ensure that you have enough money to make the journey, check the route hasn’t got any problems and then set the app to “Ready”.

Setting the app to “ready” would mean for a period of time (set by yourself), when you tap the app icon it brings up your barcode as it assumes that you are logging into the app with the intention of using a mode of transport.

This is because if you know your journey to work involves three changes (different buses or bus – train – bus) and you know that the journey takes roughly 45 mins, you can set the app to show the barcode when you open the app. This means that the barcode will be shown with one tap each time you change to a new bus or train but if you lose your phone and the time period runs out you can rest assured that who ever finds your phone can’t go on using your account all day.

Of course some people might chose to use the image of their barcode as the wallpaper on their screen so it is always visible. That is their choice.

Once it is all set up, you can put your shoes on and leave the house, knowing that you have enough money for the journey and that the route doesn’t have any major obstacles.

Once you get to the bus stop or train station you just get your phone out, tap on the icon (or use a dedicated button) and then point your screen at the camera that scans your barcode, much like tapping your Oyster Card and then get on the bus/ train.

Do the same for any other modes of transport that you need to use until you reach your destination.

Oh, did I mention that it would probably mean more revenue for TFL because less people would get on the bus only to find they have no money on their Oyster Card and no change on them.

More over, TFL would have the opportunity to allow people to license the platform so it could be implemented in other places. For example you could buy a drink or umbrella from a vending machine that uses the barcode system, on the platform or outside the station, you wouldn’t have to count change and you would have the phone in your hand already.

Conclusion

Over all I think the benefits from this type of a system are obvious once you have had a look at the implications of secuity and take into consideration how people will interact with these tools/ systems/ technology on a daily basis and what they will want or maybe even demand in the future. I think the 2D barcode system is overwhelmingly better then the idea of using your credit/ debit card and NFC technology.

I am not saying that this NFC technology is crap, its a good idea but I don’t agree that this is the right implementation for this technology.

(I would also like to see a similar system for mobile-money/ payments but I will discuss that in a later post.)

What do you think?