Tube to outsource data capture

London Underground Limited (LUL) plans to outsource the data capture process for its Oyster smartcard ticketing programme, which is due to launch in October.

Tube station ticket offices will send customers' paper registration forms to the successful bidder, who will scan the details into a central database and send out the smartcards.

The contract is likely to be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds and will need to be signed in April so the system can start testing in May.

The bulk of the work will be over the first year of the programme.

'Up to 200,000 forms will need to be captured when the Oyster card comes online in October, and then another 200,000 when the pre-payment system goes live,' said an LUL spokesman.

'Churn shouldn't be that high but the initial numbers will be quite substantial so a lot of work to do over the first year. We will use paper forms at ticketing offices to reduce queueing time, rather than having staff punching in the details themselves,' he said.

A service level agreement will be established to guarantee speed and accuracy.

In the long run, LUL hopes to reduce the number of ticket office applications by encouraging most customers to buy through the web site.

The pre-payment system planned for the Oyster card will be a world first (Computing, 24 October). The proposed application will build on the basic smartcard system and will allow travellers to either 'charge up' their card in advance or pay by direct debit at the end of the month. The software will be configured so the final payment figure gives the customer the best possible deal. It should be live by 2004.