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Smartcards set to cut travel queues

By Suzanna Kerridge

Published: Tuesday 04 May 1999

Over 45 million smartcards will be used for electronic ticketing on public transport by 2003, according to the latest research from Datamonitor.

The market research group's report claims the days of queuing to buy tickets could soon be over, with customers using rechargeable smartcards with embedded computer chips.

The report places the UK and France at the head of the race to implement smartcard e-ticketing. However, the lack of industry standards threatens to hold back development. Uncertainty surrounding government and European legislation on interoperability could cause manufacturing problems, the report claims.