Barclaycard today launched its combined contactless Oyster travel and debit card, OnePulse, in London.The card has a standard chip and PIN payment system, Oyster card functionality and Visa's 'wave and pay' contactless payment technology, which can be used for transactions of £10 or less and billed on the credit card account.
In December, Barclaycard won a deal with TranSys - the consortium which runs the Oyster card system - that gives it the exclusive rights to place Oyster on its Visa cards for the next three years.
Retailors, including Books Etc, Chop'd, Coffee Republic, EAT, Krispy Kreme, Threshers and YO! Sushi, have already signed up to the new technology.
Barclaycard says that over 4,000 people have pre-registered their interest in the card on the company's Web site.
Shashi Verma, director of fares and ticketing, Transport for London, says: "This innovative partnership with Barclaycard is another way that Oyster technology can make life more convenient for Londoners, providing them with not only cheaper, easier and more convenient travel but also the ability to make low cost transactions on everyday items."
Last week MasterCard launched its PayPass contactless credit card in London, while the Royal Bank of Scotland conducted its first contactless transaction at a McDonald's drive-thru at the end of August.
UK payments association Apacs estimates that over five million contactless cards will have been issued by the end of 2008 and that they will be accepted in at least 100,000 merchants across the country.
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