London’s Oyster card electronic ticketing system is set for
major overhaul. This follows findings by the digital security group
of the Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands in October
that NXP Semiconductors’ Mifare Classic contactless payment
solution, on which the Oyster system is based, has serious security
flaws.
The revelation prompted swift action by ITSO, an industry
organisation supported by the UK Department for Transport charged
with overseeing smartcard applications in the UK’s transport
system. ITSO has ordered no more Mifare Classic cards be issued
after 31 December 2009 and all Mifare Classic cards be out of
service by the end of 2016.
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The Oyster card system was introduced in 2003 by local
government body the Transport for London (TfL). About 6 million
Oyster cards are in regular use and account for some 80 percent of
payments on TfL’s transport network. In addition, Barclaycard’s
OnePulse credit card incorporating Oyster card functionality and
Visa’s Paywave contactless payments functionality has been
available since September 2007.
Replacement of Mifare Classic is not the only change London’s
public transport ticketing system is facing. Indeed, TfL is
considering replacing the Oyster card with a contactless bankcard
solution or one in which suitably equipped mobile phones are
used.
Notably, a six-month trial using mobile phones equipped with
Oyster card contactless payments capability conducted between
November 2007 and May 2008 received a positive response from 89
percent of the 500 participants.
TfL revealed in October that it was investigating new
technologies and seeking new service providers following its
decision in August to exercise its right of early termination of
its contract with existing service supplier TranSys in 2010.
TranSys, a consortium comprising US technology developer Cubic
Corporation and Hewlett-Packard’s EDS unit, entered into the
17-year contract worth £100 million ($155 million) annually with
TfL in 1998.
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By GlobalDataHowever, in an about-turn, TfL announced in November it had
renegotiated its contract with TranSys, leaving TranSys as service
supplier until 2013 and assuring availability of the Oyster service
during the 2012 Olympic Games. As part of the new deal TfL gained
control of the Oyster brand.
