Oyster wins transport achievement award

Three organisations – Transport for London (TfL), the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) and Cubic Transportation Systems – have received the top award for achievement in seamless transport at the recently concluded 2012 International Transport Forum held in Leipzig, Germany. The award was for the introduction of the Oyster smart ticketing solution on the National Rail network in London. The introduction of Oyster pay-as-you-go and its extension to all the national railway stations in Greater London have increased commuter trips from 500,000 to more than 2.5 million per week. With the Oyster smartcard, commuters can travel seamlessly between National Rail services, London Underground, London Overground, DLR and the city’s buses using one transport smartcard. TfL’s plans this year include introduction of contact-less payment using bank issued debit and credit cards on London’s buses. This payment option would be available for the rest of the transport network in London later.