May 2006 - ITSO PRESS RELEASE – ITSO / Oyster / London Zones

May 2006 – ITSO welcomes the announcement today (10th May 2006) that ITSO interoperability will be extended across the whole Oyster Network and London Zones 1-6 rail stations. This aligns the whole of London with the recent announcement that bidders for the South Western Rail Franchise will be required to include ITSO.

Chairman of ITSO, Neil Scales, Director General of Merseytravel, said “This confirms ITSO as the UK standard for all interoperable smartcard ticketing, building on the current roll-out of schemes across England, Scotland and Wales.” Customers holding ITSO cards from any part of the UK will in future be able to buy and load onto their card tickets that allow them to travel on or through the TfL network. Neil Scales added “This can only be a benefit to all concerned”.

Mike Eastham, ITSO’s General Manager confirmed “ITSO will be working closely with Transport for London to ensure its equipment securely operates with the ITSO environment”.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

ITSO is a world leader in Interoperable Transport Smartcard Standards. By the end of 2006 some 1 million ITSO based smartcards are forecast to be in use across the United Kingdom. A number of other European and worldwide transport undertakings are also considering adopting ITSO, confirming the UK’s leading position in this rapidly emerging field.

Interoperable smartcards allow schemes to choose a range of smartcards best suited for their applications from a range of 8 types of smartcard included in the ITSO specification and for the customers who hold those cards to buy and load tickets onto those cards in any other ITSO enabled area. This becomes crucial in 2008 when concessionary travel on local buses becomes free on a national basis. This policy decision by the Government requires concessionary passes issued by a local authority to be acceptable in every other town in England.

Web: www.itso.org.uk

Further information can be found at http://www.ecebs.com/itso.asp