Norfolk bus trial to inform government's smart ticketing strategy

£2.5 million pilot funding for paperless transport system in Norfolk.

Norfolk’s buses will be at the forefront of government ambitions for a paperless transport system, with a £2.5 million pilot of smart card technology, Transport Minister Norman Baker announced today.
The scheme, which will be funded from the government‘s £15 million commitment to ensure all buses in England are smart enabled, will allow the county’s entire bus fleet to be fitted with smart technology.
The pilot will last for 3 years but will be evaluated throughout so that the benefits can be understood and used nationally before the end of the trial.

Read the full article here.

Transport Ticketing 2013 – Event Report

Transport Ticketing 2013 – Event Report

28-30^th January 2013

By Valentina Barker

Transport Ticketing 2013: How smart is your ticketing?

This year’s Transport Ticketing conference, organised by Clarion Events, gathered more than 400 delegates and covered many topics, including:

•    emergence of new ticketing technologies best practice for implementation of new schemes
•        interoperability in transport ticketing
•        and the benefits that new ticketing methods bring.

The growing interest to transport ticketing both from within transport and other market sectors signifies that ticketing, through use of smarter technologies, is becoming more than just a fare collection instrument. 

The full report is available in the members' section of SCNF.org.uk here.  To become a member for free click here.

SCNF sponsor Payne Security joins ITSO

PAYNE Security - one of the world's leading companies in the fields of authentication technologies, document security and card solutions - has recently joined ITSO as a supplier member.

Janet Taylor is the Business Development Manager for the transport smartcard sector and has recently joined Payne after eight years at Novacroft, where she spent the last four years as Sales Director.

For more information visit www.payne-security.co.uk

ScotRail says it’s playing its Smartcards right

ScotRail and the Scottish Government are accelerating plans to offer Smartcard season tickets to customers.
The train operator – which runs 95 per cent of train services in Scotland - has already issued some 12,000 cards to staff and customers, providing a robust testing ground for a wider customer roll out this year.

An initial pilot on the Edinburgh – Falkirk High – Glasgow Queen Street route has been successful, providing impetus to extend the scheme.

An investment pot of around £2million has seen the installation and/or upgrade of equipment at 70 stations across the central belt, which will see key season ticket routes -  Stirling, Ayrshire, Aberdeen and parts of Strathclyde- switch to smart.

The move is in line with the Scottish Government’s long term vision to have a ‘Saltire’ card that will enable passengers to switch between different modes of transport using one ITSO-compliant smartcard.

ScotRail is currently completing rigorous testing before going live on new routes, to ensure that customers get the best possible first impression.

“To encourage customers to make the switch, the entire Smartcard offering must be seamless,” said Sean Duffy, commercial director at ScotRail.  “We are ensuring that we have all elements in place and working well before we go live:  a dedicated website – where photos for Smartcards can be uploaded online; a specialist customer service team; reliable equipment at stations and on trains; and well trained staff on the
ground to assist.

“To support the roll-out we’re producing a range of marketing materials to position Smartcards as the best choice for season ticket holders.”


Read the full article via ITSO.

North Wales national smartcard trial launched

GoCymru, the new Welsh Government funded smart travel card, started trials in Wrexham and Bangor on January 31.  Cardholders will be able to top up their card online, on bus, over the telephone or through retail machines installed at a number of locations, including Post Offices.

Other benefits to the new scheme
include:
- cutting down on boarding times which will improve timetable efficiency
- the ability to offer better and more flexible ticketing deals
- enabling operators and local authorities to use data from the system to improve and better target services

Speaking at Yale College, Wrexham, for the official launch of the North Wales pilot the Welsh Minister with responsibility for Transport, Carl Sargeant, said: “Not having the correct change for the bus will be a thing of the past with the introduction of this new GoCymru travel card.

“Providing the people of Wales with a realistic alternative option to the car for their everyday journeys is key if we are to develop a truly sustainable public transport network that is widely used across Wales.  “Part of this goal is to remove any misconceptions about public transport or any unnecessary inconveniences – such
as not having the right change.

“The introduction of the GoCymru card, which is a National Transport Plan commitment, will be another step in the right direction of achieving our goal.”

Read the full article via ITSO.

SCNF will be challenging the Pre-Paid industry at Pre-paid 2011 to bring down lifecycle costs for cards with a payment application present. In Local Authorities, we have seen significant reduction in card, issuing and processing costs over the last 10 years for transport and resident cards. What initiatives and proposition could bring down the cost of pre-paid, particularly when other applications are co-resident on the same card?

DWP - Evidence review of smartcard schemes in local authorities

RR 738 Evidence review of smartcard schemes in local authorities
by Andrew Wood, Kate Downer and Annalise Toberman
This report provides the findings from an evidence review conducted by RS Consulting on behalf of the Department for Work and Pensions, examining smartcard schemes that local authorities have implemented. Its overall aim was to draw together good practice and learning points as they relate to scheme implementation. The review explores a range of issues, including the services included within smartcard schemes; citizen participation in schemes; use of data to improve services; dissemination of information to users and prospective users; communications activities; and how schemes have been evaluated.
A qualitative scoring mechanism was used to assess the potential of local authorities with smartcard schemes in place. Following this, seven case study local authorities were chosen and visited between September and December 2010. The study consisted of analysing existing, publicly-available information and related evidence, supplemented by discussions with the chosen local authorities.
The local authorities that participated were Bolton Council, Bracknell Forest Council, Caerphilly County Borough Council, Cumbria County Council, Derbyshire County Council, Dundee City Council/the National Entitlement Card and Merseyside Improvement and Efficiency Partnership.

Click here for the report: http://research.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/report_abstracts/rr_abstracts/rra_738.asp