Rail firm to upgrade for smartcards
Stagecoach will invest in Oyster after winning franchise for south west
Stagecoach Group is to spend almost £20m installing smartcard technology after winning the 10-year franchise to operate the South Western rail line.
The Department for Transport mandated smart ticketing technology as part of the bid (Computing, 6 April), but Stagecoach will also invest in significant IT projects such as self-service ticket machines and real-time passenger information.
The firm will update electronic barriers and 160 ticket machines in the region, to allow for the contactless cards ahead of a full rollout by 2009.
Commuters will then be issued with smart tickets containing fare details, which can be updated electronically and online to reduce queuing at stations.
The rail franchise will be the first outside London to accept Oyster cards as a fully integrated ticketing system between mainline rail and the capital’s tube and bus network.
Transport for London (TfL) will spend a further £20m installing smartcard technology at mainline stations in London not covered by South West Trains.
Butler Group senior research analyst Sarah Burnett says making the implementation of smartcards a requirement of the bid was a sensible move.
‘Transport is the killer application for smartcard technology because it is expensive to implement, and the only way to pay for it is through economies of scale,’ she said.
‘The best way to get that scale is by transport, because so many people use it.’
Burnett says it would be more cost-effective for Stagecoach to work with TfL to make the most of its system by reusing applications or sharing support costs.
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