OyPhone A Success

Boris may have dumped Oyster operator TranSys last month, but back in November they and TfL were playing nice and managed to put together an Oyster phone trial. The "Oyster Wallet", a pimped-out Nokia handset that could be used to pay for tube journeys and small purchases, was handed out to 500 Londoners for a six month period. The trial concluded this week, and early word is that it was a success. 89% said they'd be interested in taking it up, while 22% claim that it actually encouraged them to use public transport more. Beat that, C-charge! The Barclaycard-enabled payment scheme also received good feedback - 47% said such a feature would influence them when buying a new mobile.