London Calling for Bankcard Bids

  London public transit authority Transport for London is evaluating whether to accept bank-issued contactless payment cards on subways, buses and other modes of transit in and around the British capital.
  The authority, which owns the popular Oyster fare-collection system, plans to accept bids in mid-2008 for new readers that could accept payment cards that comply with the global EMV smart card standard. That could open what is now a closed transit-payment purse to bank-issued payment cards.
  Oyster, which Transport for London says is Europe's largest contactless transit card scheme, is based on proprietary technology called Mifare, which is owned by Netherlands-based NXP Semiconductors and used by transit agencies around the world.
  Since launching the Oyster card in 2003, Transport for London has issued more than 13 million contactless cards, of which 5.5 million are used each month.
  Plans call for bringing all national rail stations serving London into the Oyster system by early 2009, which could increase fare-transaction volume by as much as 50% and add 300 stations and 1,000 readers to the scheme.
  While large British credit card issuer Barclaycard this fall launched a card that combines Visa's payWave contactless technology with Oyster, the Oyster transit purse is a separate application.
  The Barclaycard "OnePulse" card also carries a contact EMV, or chip-and-PIN, application, for higher-value purchases. Barclaycard has an exclusive three-year deal to issue cards with Oyster onboard, for which it is paying undisclosed licensing fees to Transport for London.
  The transit authority also is considering putting Oyster on contactless mobile phones that support Near Field Communication. "We (one day) wouldn't have to supply cards at all," speculates Brian Dobson, Oyster integration manager.
  But Transport for London, like other agencies, wants to complete transactions at subway gates in 300 milliseconds or less. EMVCo, the organization owned by Visa, MasterCard and Japan's JCB Co. that oversees the EMV standard, has said the fastest speed expedited protocols used for contactless EMV payments have achieved is 500 milliseconds.
  London and other transit agencies in countries that follow the EMV standard face a host of challenges to accept bankcards at their turnstiles, not the least of which is shaving a little more time off of that record.
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