GREATER Manchester could get its own 'smartcard' - letting residents pay for public transport, theatre tickets or even shopping with a single swipe.
The scheme would be based on London's hugely-successful Oyster card, which can store up to £90 of credit for use on the Tube, buses and rail services.
London's Oyster card automatically seeks the cheapest available fares.
The Greater Manchester version would be similar - but could be used for more than just transport. Council chiefs believe it would be relatively easy to add on more `cultural, leisure and retail' functions.
That means the card could eventually be used for everything from booking tickets for a football match to paying at a shop till.
The scheme is being developed as part of a strategy to bring different parts of Greater Manchester closer together.
The leaders of the 10 local councils want to build a stronger 'city-regional identity'.
They believe that by pooling their resources, Greater Manchester can be a true economic powerhouse - a London of the north.
The government is supportive and has already chosen Greater Manchester as one of two pilot areas that will be given more freedom to set their own priorities and spend money as they wish.
Charge
Council leaders warned last night that officers still had to work out whether the 'smart-card' was feasible.
That will include working out costs - and identifying where the money to pay for it would come from.
But Sir Richard Leese, leader of Manchester council, said he and his colleagues were keen to make the scheme work.
He said any Greater Manchester card would have to have a 'strong' local identity.
Plans for an Oyster-style card in Greater Manchester were originally included in last year's transport innovation fund (TIF) bid.
That would have seen nearly £3bn spent improving public transport across the region in return for a peak-hour congestion charge of up to £5 a day.
The package was rejected by an eight to two majority in a region-wide referendum in December.
Council leaders have since come up with a new £1.5bn scheme - dubbed 'plan B' - which can be funded without congestion charging.
But the Oyster-style card was not included in the stripped-down package of measures that 'plan B' would provide, which led to fears it might not happen.
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Showing comments 1 to 25 and replies | View All
Kurt Stephens (14/08/2009 at 08:42)
Please please please let this happen.
Black Flag (14/08/2009 at 08:58)
tiggerluc, somewhere in shaw (14/08/2009 at 09:21)
Rammylad (14/08/2009 at 09:27)
1) Please just use the oyster card system so we dont end up with a card for every blinking city in the uk. I already have an oyster card for my regular trips to the second capital, so I don't want a manc specific one.
2) Sort out the fares. i.e. I can travel a lot further and faster in london for less than manchester currently. Bring the prices down, end the private business rip off culture. &
3) I though this would only happen via TIF, not another lie.
EricH, Horwich (14/08/2009 at 09:30)
Black Flag (14/08/2009 at 09:47)
If it's introduced, it almost certainly won't use the Oyster Card system. The emerging national standard for this kind of card is the one used for the Yorcard in Sheffield.
"Sort out the fares. i.e. I can travel a lot further and faster in london for less than manchester currently. Bring the prices down, end the private business rip off culture."
Of course you can travel for less in London. For a start, their buses are subsidised to the tune of £1billion per year. If you want the lower fares, who do you propose should pay for the massive subsidy that would be needed? Expecting to get the same fares without the congestion charge, etc. which is used to fund them is just wanting to have your cake and eat it.
Dave Dave (14/08/2009 at 10:26)
Wor Bobby, Salford Quays (14/08/2009 at 11:09)
flo, Manchester (14/08/2009 at 11:29)
Womble, Westhoughton (14/08/2009 at 11:46)
njlawley, Leigh (14/08/2009 at 11:58)
Gradyn Thompson (14/08/2009 at 12:38)
www.systemonetravelcards.co.uk
Gradyn Thompson
General Manager, Greater Manchester Travelcards Limited
Rammylad (14/08/2009 at 13:19)
As for funding the buses, we already do through council tax, so I am not doing it again through a con charge. The tram is just too expensive, a train running on those lines would be cheaper per mile, so something has gone very wrong somewhere. Equally why have such big buses for routes with fewer people, Wales had the little dragons 20 years ago and they were great, but no, you get more of a subsidy if you send a 50 seater bus down a little estate with noone on it. No doubt we will get the usual fingers in ear response.
As for squid, I heard an advert for that the other day on the radio and thought how odd that Bolton had its own card, surely the point of being a conurbation is that we save money through scale not waste it. Who owns squid? What happens if they go bust? How do you get your money out of your card if the servers are switched off?
hulme hatter, M15 (14/08/2009 at 13:34)
Knowall, stretford end (14/08/2009 at 13:48)
I have to pay £15.50 aweek because Northwest Manchester has only one bus company effectively and runs as a monopoly, the same company has monopolies in Leeds and Swansea and Charge £17.00 a week there for a smaller travel area. So it could be a lot worse if First were the only show in town poss £20.00 a week. London had massive subsidies on Public Transport long before the Con Charge down there, mainly paid from Central Government, plus all pupils and students aged upto 19 travel free in London.
Piccadilly Dog, Beswick (14/08/2009 at 14:04)
Oyster is non-ITSO, but work is underway to bring it up to standard. It was said that Oyster was going to developed into an Octopus (Hong Kong) style payment card (for small purchases <£10), but all that happened was the Barclaycard/Oyster combi card.
System 1 is good, but not good enough. Recent efforts have been made with brand, getting the name 'out there', but it isn't that well known outside its existing user market. Yet the likes of 'Metrocard' in West Yorkshire is much more widely known, and used. Too many different 'brands' here, with TrainCard, CountyCard, DaySaver, too confusing, as well as TOO expensive.
sQuid is the test phase for what would have been the GM Travelcard.
Myself, I have an Oyster (London), Mango (Nottingham/Derbys) all PAYG, but rarely buy anything but cash singles (very occassional bus user) here in Mancs.
Black Flag (14/08/2009 at 14:04)
Fair enough, but if you aren't prepared to pay more to subsidise buses, don't complain that fares aren't lower than in other areas which have much more subsidy. You can't have it both ways.
"As for squid, I heard an advert for that the other day on the radio and thought how odd that Bolton had its own card, surely the point of being a conurbation is that we save money through scale not waste it."
Bolton was always intended to be a pilot area for Manchester's ITSO card. The card is just being tested there before being made more widely available.
hulme hatter, M15 (14/08/2009 at 14:56)
Piccadilly Dog - Spot on. The main reason System One isn't widely known about is because only those who absolutely have to use it do so. It's mind-bogglingly expensive if you have to use a bus and a train/tram every day. You would think that transport companies would have already delivered something that would make more people want to use their service, but why bother when you have a captive audience and monopoly powers?
Black Flag (14/08/2009 at 15:44)
Mohammed Choudhary (14/08/2009 at 16:18)
For the record the reason why Oyster is being dropped by Transport for London is that it was never viable. Manchester is again first in developing a viable solution that can sustain other services. Manchester City council has shown no interest in helping all its citizens today.
Zulf
University of Manchester
john davis, Broughton, Salford (14/08/2009 at 16:18)
Rammylad (14/08/2009 at 16:25)
Black Flag at least you have accepted at last that we already subsidise the private bus companies and they still charge a fortune, I hearby withdraw my fingers in ears comment.
Piccadilly Dog, Beswick (14/08/2009 at 16:49)
Current set up of GM Travelcards/GMBOA works in the companies' favour, rather than that of the passenger. Perhaps if GMITA/GMPTE can't stand up for us, then maybe Passenger Focus (the ex-BR Transport Users' Consultative Committee) will do, now they have 'power' over complaints, improving service, etc.?
All buses should be painted the same colour, having the same tickets/fare scale, with decent level of cleanliness, punctuality, reliability, with just a small logo in the corner. If they manage it elsewhere in the EU, in a 'liberalised' market, then why can't we?
Crumpsall-Lass, Crumpsall (14/08/2009 at 20:01)
citycentre, manchester (15/08/2009 at 09:51)