Identity, Security, Payments, Biometrics, Smart Cards and Authentication News

Oyster suffers second card failure

Monday, July 28, 2008

For the second time in weeks, London’s Oyster card has failed. This time, instead of damaging the riders’ cards, they got to enjoy a free ride during last Friday’s rush hour. The system went down at all London Underground stations and ticket gates were opened to limit disruption while the problem was resolved.

A Transport for London (TfL) spokesperson said the problem is believed to be the result of incorrect data tables being sent out by the Oyster card contractor, Transys. Regardless, the problem was solved by mid-morning with card readers progressively coming back online. The earlier July 14 Oyster problem disabled about 65,000 cards causing users to have to replace them.

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