Protest As ‘Oyster' Smart Travel Cards For The North Are Derailed In Cutbacks

Passengers in the North are up in arms after planned “smart’ train and bus payment cards were torn up by Government funding cuts.

- Paul Jeeves

The system, like London’s Oyster scheme, would have let public transport users in Northern England make single-fare contactless journeys.

Government office Transport for the North (TfN) had aimed to roll out the technology on trains, buses and trams – but regional leaders said the “levelling-up” idea is in disarray after the Department for Transport (DfT) announced plans to cut funding to the Integrated and Smart Travel programme as part of 40 per cent cost-cutting.

They said the decision “makes a mockery” of promises to level up northern cities with the capital, where commuters benefited from the introduction of Oyster cards in 2003 and from full contactless usage in 2012.