Mobile phones could double up as Oyster cards within the next two years, after a six-month trial between O2 and Transport for London was declared a success.
O2 incorporated Oyster card technology and a Barclaycard into a Nokia handset, and gave it to 500 testers.
Trialists were able to use their handset to pay for travel on the Tube, buses and trams across London, and also to top-up their Oyster at ticket machines by touching the phone against a reader.
According to the research, 89% of trialists said they were interested in having Oyster on their mobile phones, and 22% said they increased the number of journeys they made on public transport during the trial.
A TfL spokesman said the technology used in the trial was an ‘exciting prospect for the future and one which could provide significant benefits for our passengers’. O2 is now putting together a consortium to launch a full service within two years.
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