Smart ticketing in London using RF ID cards

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

------ Forwarded Message
From: Richard Jay Solomon <rsolomon () dsl cis upenn edu>
Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2002 10:03:25 -0500

> <<http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2126235,00.html>>:
>
>
> Smart-card ticketing goes Underground
>
> 20 Nov 2002
>
> Matthew Broersma
>
> Smart cards using radio frequency ID chips have begun mass trials on
> London Underground in preparation for a consumer launch next year
> The London Underground has begun rolling out a smart-card ticketing
> system in what is billed as a major new showcase of contactless smart-
> card technology in Europe.
>
> This month 80,000 of the cards were issued to staff of London
> Underground and Transport for London under the "Oyster" smart-card
> programme, a £1.2bn, 17-year project intended to ultimately replace
> current ticketing systems. TranSys, a consortium of companies led by
> Electronic Data Systems (EDS) and Cubic Transportation Systems (CTS),
> designed the system and has so far outfitted 6,000 buses and 255 Tube
> stations to use the cards.
>
> The smart cards are manufactured by Giesecke & Devrient and
> SchlumbergerSema using MiFare chips from Philips Semiconductors.
>
> London mayor Ken Livingstone said that the trial was aimed at ironing
> out any remaining bugs in the system ahead of introducing the smart
> cards to consumers beginning in the spring. The trial was originally set
> to begin in August.
>
> "From next year, the travelling public can look forward to less queuing
> to buy tickets and faster movement through ticket gates and onto buses,"
> he said in a statement. "This new technology will play an important part
> in modernising London's transport."
>
> Smart cards have been introduced in areas as diverse as e-wallets, set-
> top boxes and public telephones, but have only caught on in a few niche
> areas. Philips said it sees London as a European testing ground for its
> MiFare chips, which are already being used in the public transportation
> systems of Moscow, Beijing, Seoul and Ankara, among others.
>
> Similar projects have begun rolling out in several continental European
> cities, with Parisian holders of annual season tickets getting the
> "Navigo" smart card beginning last October.
>
> Philips said it has shipped 250 million MiFare units worldwide, and
> about two million to Giesecke & Devrient and SchlumbergerSema.
>
> The MiFare chip includes 1KB of EEPROM memory storing travel details,
> and communicates with a device in the ticket gate via radio frequency
> identification (RFID) technology, meaning that passengers need only to
> pass the card near the access point instead of inserting it into a
> machine before going through the entry or exit gates. Philips said that
> a security algorithm built into the chip makes it more difficult to
> replicate than magnetic-stripe cards.
>
> Like the smart-card systems in Paris and Brussels <[not yet operational]>,
> Philips' chip is compliant with the international ISO 14443 standard for
> contactless smart cards.
>
> Commuters using Oyster cards will be able to store their season ticket
> information on the card, or be able to buy individual trips under a
> programme called PrePay. Monthly and annual season tickets will be
> introduced to the public first. The cards will ultimately work across
> London's transportation network, including trams, Docklands Light
> Railway, buses and the Tube.


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