PASSENGERS will be able to buy tickets for Edinburgh's trams with the swipe of a credit card.
Tram bosses plan to install card-reading sensors at all stops along the 11-mile route which will see the price of a ticket deducted directly from passengers' bank accounts. There are also plans for pay-as-you-go top-up cards.
However, the new tech
nology will mean passengers will be banned from using cash on board the tram itself, and instead have to buy a ticket from one of the machines placed at each stop.
• Will you be using your credit card to pay for journeys on the tram?Tram chiefs hope to utilise new technology being pioneered by credit card firms which allows customers to pay for transactions simply by moving their card past a reader, with no need to enter a pin number. The equipment is set to be introduced on London's buses ahead of the 2012 Olympics.
Alastair Richards, director of TIE, said it was important to remain up to date with technology.
He said: "Transport for London is hoping to introduce this on their bus fleet in 2011, rolling it out across the entire network for the Olympics in 2012. We can almost ride on the back of that. If we did not go for it we would be left with a ticketing system which was not so much obsolete, but not ready for the future."
He said he hoped the system would be in place for when the trams begin operating in 2012, meaning cash payments would not be accepted on board.
He said: "That would be my preference and I think we can encourage that by inspectors not accepting cash payments on the tram. You would be asked to get off and pay at the platform. We're looking at that from day one – it's more difficult once you start to accept cash from the start to then back away from that.
"There's an opportunity there, but we have not taken the decision yet."
But deputy council leader Steve Cardownie said the ban on using cash on board the trams would be a "recipe for confusion".
He said: "There will be a lot of people getting on the tram at the airport for whom English will not be their first language. Telling them to get off the tram would not be a particularly great welcome to Edinburgh."
It is likely that similar technology will be introduced by Lothian Buses, but chiefs say there are currently no plans to stop accepting cash on board due to the level of investment needed to put on-street ticket vending machines at its 3,500 stops.
Councillor Gordon Mackenzie, the city's transport convener, said: "Our wish is to ensure that ticketing arrangements are as customer-friendly as possible. If we could have more payment options, as part of an integrated bus and tram ticket, I'm sure many passengers would welcome such a development."
