The authority responsible for public transport in the West Midlands is to introduce smartcard technology next year to allow more flexible ticketing.

Centro will fund the £10m infrastructure project but hopes commercial bus and rail operators will also use the technology to deliver smartcards to all its passengers.

The company initially plans to provide smartcards to concessions from 1 April, and will fit all buses and metro trains with electronic ticket machines by 2009, says customer services assistant director Chris Perry.

‘In the long term, we want commercial operators to move to smartcards to deliver more innovative ticketing, including fare capping, such as that available on Oyster cards in London,’ he said.

It is hoped smartcard technology will encourage more people to use public transport, while also giving Centro a more accurate view of its concession card holders and reduce fraud.

Centro is in the process of appointing a supplier to provide smartcards, card issuing equipment, readers and back-office software based on the ITSO smartcard standard.

‘It will be a complex task because we will need to capture and verify passenger data for more than 550,000 cards,’ said Perry. ‘But once the infrastructure is in place, we can show commercial operators that the technology is viable.’

By footing the infrastructure costs Centro will encourage rail and bus operators to provide smartcard ticketing, says Butler Group analyst Sarah Burnett.

‘Cost has always been a stumbling block for commercial operators, but in the long run both Centro and rail or bus operators will recover costs through more efficient ticketing,’ she said.