The A to Z of wireless

O is for Oyster

Transport for London's (TfL) Oyster card is a smartcard ticketing system that uses RFID technology (see R is for RFID) to speed up travel through ticket barriers.

Unlike paper tickets, which contain a magnetic strip and must be passed through readers inside ticket barriers, Oyster uses contactless technology so the cards only have to be passed over a reader on the top of the barriers.

Use of smartcard ticketing is seen as a more attractive alternative to paper technology as prepayment and travelcards can be bought online and stored on the cards. As a result, queuing at ticket offices is reduced and TfL staff are freed up for other duties.

In order to encourage customers to get on board, TfL offers commuters cheaper travel on Oyster.

The Oyster system, launched back in 2002, has not been without its glitches - a computer bug was blamed for crashing the system during the morning rush-hour back in 2005 and, more recently in summer last year, the system crashed twice in a fortnight.

Dutch researchers have also claimed there are vulnerabilities with the Mifare Classic chipset used on the cards that could enable criminals to clone Oyster cards (see V is for Vulnerabilities).

The future for smartcard ticketing systems could lie with mobiles. Back in 2007 mobile operator O2 launched a six-month pilot of a phone that came with Oyster functionality.

Testers simply had to touch their phone to the Oyster reader to use it as a ticket for travel on London's transport network and at the end of the trial the majority said they were interested in taking up a mobile Oyster app in future. However the launch of a commercial Oyster phone - or app - in the UK is likely to be several years away.