2013 is Going full steam Ahead on smart ticketing

THIS YEAR will see major strides forward for Go-Ahead in terms of ITSO-compliant smart ticketing schemes.

The group says it will soon offer the first multi-modal smart ticketing scheme outside London, and the first smart tickets

for rail travel to London from outside Transport for London’s Oyster card zone.

This will build on existing PlusBus trials with Southern Railway, allowing customers with ‘the key’ cards to buy smart tickets for both bus and rail services.  It will involve linking current schemes run by Go-Ahead’s Metrobus, Brighton &

Hove Buses and Southern Railway, providing integrated travel on a single ‘key’ card for bus services in Brighton, mid

-Sussex and around Gatwick airport, and rail services on the Bexhill-Brighton-Warblington, and Brighton-Gatwick routes.

Dave Lynch, Group IT Director and ITSO Board member, says the scheme is in the final stages of testing and they plan

to launch in the second half of this year.

A new charge to account product will be launched. This will be a back office based Pay As You Go (PAYG) product (using an ITSO TYP22 IPE), with customers able to use it to travel within a certain geographical area. The account balance and journey calculation will take place in a back office as opposed to on the card.  Customers would apply for this product online, and have to sign up to an account which links a credit or debit card to an auto top-up mechanism of a set cash

value.

Customers would then simply travel as much as they like and be charged the best value fare for their journeys following

a retrospective back office fare calculation.

Read the full article here.

StagecoachSmart cards set to rocket down South

STAGECOACH passengers in Hampshire and West Sussex can now travel using the ITSO - compliant

StagecoachSmart card.  Since February, the scheme is now live on more than 365 Stagecoach buses across the region, allowing customers the chance to pay for their travel through hassle - free automatic payments after registering online.

Stagecoach says the launch of the smartcard technology in the area is another demonstration of its commitment to making travel more convenient for passengers.  Andrew Dyer, Managing Director of Stagecoach South, said: “We know we have a responsibility to our customers to continue introducing new technology and new ideas to improve their

travel experience.

“We believe the launch of StagecoachSmart will encourage even more people to try our greener, smarter bus services and the scheme will rocket in popularity. As more passengers use the smart card we will see less boarding time at bus stops as the journey is prepaid.”

“The launch of StagecoachSmart in the South offers passengers the chance to sign up to the company’s new

Megarider Xtra ticket which allows monthly payments to be debited from the customer’s bank account on an agreed date

each month, meaning they no longer have to renew their ticket manually. The customer’s ticket is stored on their StagecoachSmart travel card and simply remains valid for travel until the payment is cancelled.”

Read the full article here.

DfT launches £2.5 million ITSO managed service trial

LAST week saw the launch of a £2.5 million smart ticketing managed service trial in Norfolk.  More than 40 bus operators in the county will be invited to take part in the three year pilot, which will increase the number of ITSO-compliant, smart-enabled vehicles to more than 700.  A number of larger public transport operators currently providing services in the county, such as First and Konect (part of the Go-Ahead Group), have already invested in the ticketing equipment and back office services to establish their individual, national, smart ticketing schemes supported by the DfT’s BSOG smartcard incentive.

The aim of the Norfolk pilot is to develop a managed service scheme for smaller bus operators. The pilot will be supported by SWSAL (South West Smart Applications Ltd) - a membership body of 15 local authorities and 17 public

transport operators which is already developing an ITSO-compliant smart ticketing scheme for the South West of England.  The DfT says that where the Norfolk pilot differs from other initiatives is that the provision of smart ticketing equipment is firmly tied in with the development and acceptance of smart ticketing products for the passenger. 

Read the full article here.

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.