Playing our cards right will be the future of transport ticketing

London’s dedicated Oyster smartcard has been universally acclaimed as a major success story, but its days are numbered, with the future of ticketing very much being the contactless bankcard, MasterCard’s Will Judge told Rik Thomas

Rik Thomas

25 January 2013

Will Judge joined MasterCard after several years spent plotting the future of transport ticketing for Transport for London

London’s Oystercard has been a tremendous success but its days are numbered, according to Judge

MasterCard’s PayPass contactless bank cards have been useable on London’s buses since last November, and will migrate onto the Tube and train networks later this year

WILL JUDGE is quite adamant that the future of transport ticketing is the contactless bankcard and that the days of the dedicated transport smartcard, such as Transport for London’s Oystercard, are very much numbered. Now those of a sceptical bent may raise an eyebrow at this bald statement, given that Judge works for MasterCard, a company that is, fairly obviously, in the contactless bankcard business. Until last November, however, he was head of future ticketing at TfL, where he was...