E-ticketing gets on the buses

The government is developing a £31m smartcard bus pass scheme for older and disabled people as part of wider plans for national e-ticketing.

The passes will be in use across England from April next year. In the short term, the plan will minimise fraud and ensure that pass-holders’ journeys are accurately recorded for reimbursement purposes between local authorities and bus operators.
The ultimate aim is for a single card to access a range of services, said transport secretary Ruth Kelly.

“By introducing smartcard technology from the outset we are paving the way for full smart ticketing across the country,” she said.

“It would speed up boarding, cut fraud and open up the possibility of using the same pass to access a range of local services, such as libraries and leisure
facilities.”

The scheme will use the ITSO smartcard specification developed by industry and the government to ensure compatibility across the country.

The Department for Transport (DfT) has awarded framework agreements to provide smartcard services, including card production, management, back office support, hardware and software. But the 291 local authorities that deal with public transport will be responsible for issuing the 11 million cards the scheme is expected to cover.

The DfT is providing central funding based on the number of cards each council issues, said a spokeswoman.

“The idea behind the grant is that it covers the extra cost for producing the smartcard, as local authorities are being required to issue new passes when they might not have done so,” she said.

The national concessionary smartcard is a useful precursor to wider application of public transport e-ticketing systems, said Passenger Transport Executive Group smartcards spokesman Neil Scales, who is also director general of public transport co-ordinator Merseytravel.

“Smartcard ticketing offers the prospect of greater convenience for passengers and lower administration costs for local authorities, operators and ultimately the taxpayer,” said Scales.

A mentoring scheme is also up and running, making use of best practice from local authorities that have already run successful smartcard projects.

There are 6.4 million bus passes in circulation. Ultimately all buses will need to be fitted with smartcard readers, but until then the cards can still be shown on boarding.