I was interested to read this morning that the NSW Government has dumped its ERG Smartcard ticketing project. Despite success of integrated smartcard offerings in some overseas cities, various projects here have had rocky starts. Of interest to newsagents, beyond the issue of commission, is the potential of a new payment type. These cards are like cash and can, if permitted by the issuer, be used for payment for anything from a newspaper to more significant purchases. This is, in part, what interests me. If commuters get used to using such a card while commuting then retailers on travel routes need to accept the card as a payment method or risk losing business. It’s like Eftpos, the more barriers we put up on how people pay for something the greater the challenge to our businesses.
It will be interesting to see which state in
Instead of developing another payment system the government should adopt RFID cardit card payments (http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/business/soa/MasterCard-brings-RFID-payments-to-Australia/0,139023166,139249594,00.htm)
Its a far more practical solution to adopt the use of this type of card. Its saves people haveing to carry multiple cards and can utilise existing technology without having to develop multiple systems.