MPTE Walrus Smart Card

[Barney]

RE: MPTE Walrus Smart Card

(14/10/2015 09:43)Enviro400 Wrote:  Why have Merseytravel gone about developing their own card system if the TfL system is so efficient and great? Surely it would make sense for Merseytravel to work with TfL on deploying a scaled-back version of Oyster on Merseyside? It isn't like they are in competition, and TfL could recover some of their development costs, especially if the Oyster 'model' was the standard across the country. It seems strange that Merseytravel have gone to all the trouble to build something from the ground-up when there is a working system elsewhere which could be adapted to other areas.

That is a good question. A relative of mine works for TfL and, from what she tells me, I get the impression that the Oyster card was developed at great cost to the tax payer but only for the benefit of the travelling public of London. The idea of sharing intellectual property and rolling it out across the country was never going to happen as the Treasury considers this far too ambitious and expensive for those of us living outside of the M25. Remember, we are all in this together.