Search

Monday 6th September 2010

IT Glitch Wipes Out Some London Contactless Transit Cards

Transport for London (TfL) is replacing 60,000 contactless Oyster cards after an IT system malfunction on July 12, 2008 which corrupted cards as they were used. The cards affected by the malfunction either stopped working or incurred a fine.

TfL operates LondonÆs public transit networks. Oyster is TfLÆs prepaid transit card.

The technical problem affected around 1 percent of the 6 million regular Oyster card users, TfL said in a statement July 14. However, services are now running smoothly again, it said.

TfL is asking affected passengers to replace their cards at their nearest Tube station ticket office. Meantime, it is allowing them to travel without making any extra ticket purchases.

Amongst those affected are 2,000 holders of London-area local authority-issued Freedom passes, and 6,000 holders of Young Persons Oyster cards.

TfL says it will be automatically sending out replacement Young Persons Oyster cards. However, affected Freedom Pass-holders will have to apply to their local authority for replacement cards.

Until they receive a replacement, affected Freedom Pass and Young Persons Oyster cardholders are being allowed to travel by presenting their ID photocard. All passengers who overpaid for their travel due to the malfunction on July 12 will be given an automatic refund, TfL says.

TfL issued an apology to its customers and said it was investigating the cause of the problem.

Related Links
Barclaycard Expanding UK Contactless Rollout
UK Anti-Terror Effort Seeks Travel Card Data
British NFC Cellphone Payments Trial launched
London Retailers Sign Up for Barclaycard OnePulse
Contactless Cards Called Easy Prey
Barclaycard Promotes 3-in-1 Transit Card
Cards Dominate UK Retail Payments, Report Says
Barclaycard Plans Visa, Transport Combo Contactless Card
Barclaycard Pursues Contactless Payments in London Taxis
Barclays to Add London Transit to Contactless Cards
Infineon Combines Contactless E-purse with Access Cards
UK Cashless Payment Growth Set To Increase

Add a comment

Your name:
Comment:
	Enter the characters from the image above