TRANSPORT Minister Norman Baker has revealed that the government is planning to create a national transport smartcard, which would cover trains, trams and buses.

The Department for Transport has also confirmed that it has already been making payments to Transport for London so that Oyster smartcard readers can be upgraded to accept the future national card.

However, the Oyster card itself is expected to continue to be issued for travel in and around Greater London.

Oyster cards were introduced in London in 2003, and now account for most journeys made on public transport in the capital. Transport for London says only about 1 in 20 Underground journeys involve a visit to a ticket office these days, and National Rail stations in Greater London began to accept Oyster cards at the start of this year.

The move to near-universal adoption of smartcards in London has been encouraged by sharp increases in cash fares over the past few years, so that a Zone 1 tube journey now costs £4 in cash but only £1.80 on Oyster.

There have already been attempts to introduce a National Rail smartcard, and trials have been taking place on South West Trains, but development has been slow.

However, Mr Baker is envisaging an ‘all-mode’ version, which would be compatible with existing smartcards issued by Passenger Transport Executives. Apart from the funding to TfL, nine large urban areas in England are receiving grants of £20 million apiece from the DfT to trigger smartcard development.

Mr Baker's proposals cover England only, but discussions are under way with the devolved governments in Scotland and Wales so that the future national transport smartcard would be usable anywhere in Britain.