LONDON has an Oyster and very soon Glasgow will have a Bramble.

A £300million modernisation of the Underground network, which will see driverless trains replace the existing rolling stock, is under way.

Part of the upgrade will involve introducing Bramble smart tickets, like those used by millions of commuters on London Underground.

Passengers there top up the Oyster card with cash and the cost of the ticket is deducted each time they make a journey.

Until now, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport has been tight lipped about the likely name of Glasgow's version of the London travel card.

But the transport body confirmed it will be called the Bramble after the Scottish fruit.

The new smartcard will be in place in time for the Commonwealth Games next year.

But SPT first has to renew all the gates leading to and from the Subway to allow the ticket to be used.

Work will start at West Street station next month, with the revolving metal bars at the ticket office replaced by glass gates.

SPT is introducing an interim ticket that passengers will be able to use on the new and old gates.

The new tickets will not be Bramble cards but will look similar to existing Subway tickets.

Work on the new gates will start first at West Street because it is the quietest station on the network.

The order after West Street will be Kinning Park, Bridge Street, Cessnock, Shields Road, Cowcaddens, Ibrox, St George's Cross, Kelvinhall, Kelvinbridge, Govan, Partick, Hillhead, St Enoch and Buchanan Street.

A new range of ticket deals will be introduced within the next four weeks to co-incide with the introduction of the upgraded Subway tickets, which will carry a microchip.

The single will remain at £1.40, the return at £2.60 but the cost of the all-day ticket will be cut from £3.80 to £2.60 for a limited period.

The 10 and 20 journey tickets will be scrapped and replaced by a seven day ticket costing £12 and a 28-day ticket costing £45.

Passengers who buy these tickets will have unlimited use of the Subway.

An SPT spokeswoman said: "The smart technology will mean faster, easier journeys for customers and fewer queues at ticket offices.

"There will be a phased introduction of new smartcard products to complement the modern technology.

"We believe the new seven-day and 28-day tickets will offer better value for money because customers can use these season tickets to travel on the Subway any time, any day and as many times as they would like while their ticket is valid.

"We realise the changes will be a bit disruptive, but we think the changes will be worth it because there will be fewer queues and fewer frustrated customers using ticket machines that are old and break down."

vivienne.nicoll@ eveningtimes.co.uk