Free for all on London Underground
Oyster falls down again
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Updated Commuters are travelling for free on the London Underground this morning after technical problems again brought down the Oyster ticket system.
Gates have been left open since early this morning. But at least this failure is not knackering people's cards - the downtime last time meant 35,000 people had to get their cards replaced. Oyster readers on trams and buses are working normally.
Transport for London is stressing that this time no cards will need replacing. The MiFare chip, on which Oyster cards are based, were recently cracked and cloned by Dutch researchers.
A Transport for London spokesperson said:
There is currently a technical problem with Oyster readers at London Underground stations which is affecting Oyster pay as you go cards only. Ticket gatelines have been opened to minimise any disruption to passengers whilst we resolve the problem. Oyster card readers on London Buses and on the Tram network are unaffected.Cards are not being disabled as a result of the problem and we will automatically refund any passengers who may be charged the maximum £4 fare as a result of not being able to touch in and out at the beginning and end of their journeys. Oyster card holders need take no further action.
We believe that this problem, like the last one resulted from incorrect data tables being sent out by our contractor, Transys.
TfL has denied this has anything to do with the two recent failures but it has been suggested that security updates to try and protect the system against cloned cards caused the problems.
Update
We received a further statement from Transport for London:
The problem has now been resolved and readers are progressively coming back on-line at stations.
So all's well that ends well. ®
COMMENTS
In a Major European City
namely, Vienna, I go to a machine and deposit 14 euros (about £11) and for that I get 24 hours a day, 7 days of travel on an extensive Metro system, buses (even night services), a fabulous tram system and regional railways. It's reliable, clean and cheap.
Oyster? Shmoyster!
@stuart
Actaully, you forgot to account for the infrastructural costs which will have to be paid for by the passengers. And all the extra maintenance said infrastructure needs. And the costs when it inevitably is cracked wide open and needs to be overhauled entirely.
I think I'll take the old ticket system where some people would travel without a ticket, because I'm pretty sure that subsidising a few freetards is a lot better than paying for an entire industry branch.
Just make the underground free
Rather than having some very ineffective revenue gathering mechanism, make the underground free and fund it from some other source.
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