Transport minister firm on smart ticket
23 September 2008
Junior transport minister Tineke Huizinga has no plans to allow paper tickets for public transport to co-exist with the new smart card system, she told MPs on Monday.
The smart card (ov-chipkaart) is again under fire after consumer organisations pulled out of the working party overseeing the project on Monday.
They say it will increase costs, creates serious privacy issues and that there are too many IT problems with the new system.
Huizinga said she was surprised by the groups’ decision to pull out and wants to talk with transport organisations about the next step. The January 2009 deadline for a nationwide roll-out has already been postponed.
In Britain, the smart card system for the metro known as Oyster runs alongside traditional paper tickets.
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