Government aims to widen use of smart ticketing

Transport secretary Lord Adonis promises consultation in the summer on possible incentives

Oyster is an example of successful smart ticketing

New transport secretary Lord Andrew Adonis has announced plans to boost development and take-up of smart ticketing across the UK.

In a speech to the Transport Times conference yesterday, Adonis highlighted integrated transport systems as one of the key challenges faced by his department.
“By extending the use of smart ticketing technology, we can transform people’s perception and experience of public transport,” he said.

The Department for Transport (DfT) will publish a consultation document in the summer to look at possible incentives that could improve adoption of smart ticketing.

Adonis cited the success of London’s Oyster smartcard that is used for Tube, bus and increasingly train travel, as well as being integrated with a Barclaycard for low-value contactless payments in some London shops.

DfT has already announced plans to help fund a project to make Oyster compatible with the ITSO smartcard standard used widely elsewhere in the UK.

Adonis also mentioned the use of mobile phones for travel tickets used in Japan by “tens of millions” of travelers, and mobile ticketing is likely to also feature in the consultation.

“If we get this right then the whole country could follow London in revolutionising the connectivity of public transport, and increasing its use radically,” he said.