WRITTEN ON April 3rd, 2008 BY Richard S AND STORED IN Foundation of Trust, Identity, What do we want?
My new “biometric” bus pass card finally arrived this morning – complete with a 16 page book of confusing rules which basically says that the rules are very complicated so we should always “ask the driver” whether our cards are valid for each particular journey!
For example, it seems that we can travel from the hospital in the next county before 09:30 or after 23:00; but not from the closer hospital in our county town! With a “companion” we can apparently travel to/from a much more distant specialist hospital; something we apparently cannot do alone!
In spite of the expense of this new scheme, this new card is little use as ID: Unlike the previous bus pass, this one has no space for the user’s signature (the back is covered with yet more rules). Also, the “passport grade” photo they demanded will often not look like the user – eg. No spectacles etc.
Surprisingly, in this era of “social inclusion” there are two types and colours of card – although both have exactly the same benefits: The “elderly” have a wide red stripe and the “disabled” have an orange stripe.
Wibbis:
1. New initiatives occasionally made life simpler!
2. Officialdom was not so keen on inventing new rules.
3. Some thought had been given to producing a multi-purpose card.
5 Responses to “Biometric Bus Pass Arrives, but not as ID”
I’m tearing my hair out here, thinking thoughts like “hope I die before I get old” and wanting to commit mindless acts of violence to their CCTV cameras…but realising it’s too late!
Wibbi they worked with some DESIGNERS before wasting everyone’s time and money with this paraphanalia of nonsense.
The most interesting aspect of the scheme is that there are millions of cards and no readers, new age Stalinist central planning at its best.
I think Dave Birch will be saying this about the ID card scheme too!
What type of reader works with these bus passes?
My pass has a small hologram but does not appear to have a chip. As it expires in two years, is it just a simple (temporary) plastic card?
The cards have a contactless interface to a computer chip inside, they are like Oyster cards. Tragically, it is not a simple plastic card, but an expensive smart card.
The most interesting aspect of the scheme is that there are millions of cards and no readers, new age Stalinist central planning at its best.