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Hmm yea, you do have a point.

I admit I got a bit carried away on the barcode idea, mostly because I have used it at the airport and liked it. But I have to agree it might not scale as well to public transport use - the whole running after train thing.

Well, I guess we can meet in the middle and agree that NFC would be the near-optimal solution, when and if implemented securely (however unlikely that is.. ;-) ).

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As far as I can tell, one large benefit for Oyster cards is that people can use the gates at tube stations faster than with paper tickets. This is quite impressive, given that an experienced commuter barely has to break stride to use a paper ticket. (And on buses, you don't have the delay of interacting with the bus driver - you beep on as you go past). I'm sure the cost savings for London Underground from increased speed beats that that they'll lose to forged Oyster cards.

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