It's about time we had such devices introduced. The days of having to carry around cash to make small transactions should be numbered. All we need now is to convert every car park in the land to take these payments and we'll never need cash again.

The thing about oyster is that when it fails is almost always the holder of the card who gets stung. IMO and experience of the benefits of the card are over shadowed by the hassle when it goes wrong.

Also Ken has shown that he is quite capable of changing the rules. Therefore, on things like data, I don't think I be letting him have it.

...now all they need to do is:

a. force the train companies to accept Oyster and use the same zonal fare system as Transport for London, so we can get away from the absurdity that you can pass through the gates at Richmond station with your Oyster card to get on the District line, but not to get on a Southwest train to Waterloo, and you pay two different fares too. It would also put a load of officious SWT ticket inspectors out of a job, as a bonus.

b. allow Oyster to be used as a prepaid debit card for other purchases, so for those who don't want or can't get a credit card can use the 'cashless' system too. Like they do in Hong Kong - their Octopus card is used for both metro travel and small purchases in shops. But that wouldn't make loads of money for Visa or Disastercard, so it's unlikely to happen...

Shouldn't that be a personal PIN number for completeness and maximum redundancy?

Rollout of Chip&PIN was a missed chance to introduce card-based cash. Been available in mainland Europe for years.

More secure for punters, cheaper for small retailers, and would lessen quantity of banknotes being carted around to refill ATMs

*sigh* only on El Reg....or maybe slashdot :-)

'for completeness and maximum redundancy' wouldn't it be a 'personal identification PIN number' especailly if its used at one of them new fangled automatic teller type atm machines.

Now wheres my overcoat coat?

Dave: I think you mean a Personal input PIN number.

this thing was "launched" yesterday, but how many people have actually got one in the wild? I was invited to do the credit card bit of the application yesterday.

I presume this means that oyster readers DEFINITELY don't wipe the magnetic strips of credit cards?

Yep, oyster works by radio (contactless smart card), so it won't damage the strip. But what a great cock up if it did.. ;)

I don't even live in London and I'm tempted to get one (call me sad but it's my field of research).

"All we need now is to convert every car park in the land to take these payments and we'll never need cash again."

Definitely agreed. But the car parks also need to be OBLIGED to accept them by law *and* not to compute the charge until the time of exit, so that you don't have to "guess" how long you'll be there and, thereby, be at unnecessary risk of a penalty just because the place you're visiting didn't do its job as promptly as you expected.

"force the train companies to accept Oyster"

Already in progress, I believe. Though it will probably be some time before it happens.

Monopoly, much? There's only one supplier of Oyster cards; there should be a requirement to make the cashless function available via other financial operators.

There's a "sign-up" booth (staffed by a Real Human Being...) at Blackfriars underground station, he's been there since lunchtime...

Been playing too much Pokémon...

Oh I dunno. I had one fail a while back, in the middle of a fairly involved journey it suddenly stopped working. Perils of the back pocket apparently. Anyway. I was directed to a ticket desk (I was on the Tube) and he put the card into a reader of some sort. He said 'you had £11.90 on there this morning' Yes, says I, thinking 'and I've made few journeys since then'. 'Right' he says 'here's a new card with £11.90 on it...'

Lesson? Carry it in your wallet - it still works without removing it and it doesn't break.

Oh and yes, 'the rail companies are going to be involved very soon' - according to my son who works for TfL customer support...

If the upper spend limit is under £10 to prevent fraud, then I challenge ANYONE to find useable parking in central London for that amount or under...OK, you can, but it's very close.

But it would be very useful to have such a swipe card for buying the paper, coffee, etc. I would expect to see these card readers in all of the shops adjoining Tube stations.

But overall, I think that Oyster is one of the best things about London transport, and it's sheer efficiency and speed almost makes up for the crammed, un-airconditioned trains that pass as the Tube...or those damned, traffic jamming, public-injuring flexi-buses.

"A TfL spokesperson told GC News that the integration did not mean that banks would have access to passenger movements, nor would TfL have access to purchase and transaction data."

"At least until next month when nobody's looking."

Has anyone read "The Handmaids Tale" by Margaret Attwood, its a bit of a feminist tract, but nevertheless the opening chapters, should serve as fair warning.

"I challenge ANYONE to find useable parking in central London for that amount or under"

OK, so I didn't park in central London yesterday, but I did park in Stratford, an equally busy, if not foreign(er) part of London and it was £5.50 for four hours.