Passengers' Panel

From my experience, the Oyster card is considerably more expensive per journey than the old Carnet option (a booklet of 10 single tickets phased out with the introduction of Oyster). I am sceptical as to whether smartcards will provide passengers with a better deal. And won't the introduction of new smartcard technology push fares up even further? 

The smartcard itself doesn't affect the price charged to the passenger. Oyster Pay As You Go fares are different to the former Carnet tickets as a result of pricing decisions made by Transport for London. The introduction of smartcard technology on our network—one of our commitments under the new franchise—will allow us to offer more flexible types of fares. For instance, we will begin to offer carnet-style tickets to passengers with smartcards because the equipment will let us check and manage payment in this way. But it is far too early to say what our fares will be in 2009, when we plan to launch the system.

Andy Wakeford, Head of Commercial Services