EUROPE: The creation of a Smart Ticketing Alliance as ‘a platform for European and global co-operation’ has been agreed by smart ticketing specification and co-ordination bodies VDV KA of Germany, ITSO from the UK, France’s Afimb, the EU’s Calypso Networks and UITP.
The main goals of the Alliance are:
- co-operation between national and regional smart ticketing schemes to establish interoperability in Europe and elsewhere;
- to develop, agree and publish functional and technical requirements for smart ticketing interoperability;
- co-operation on the establishment of trust schemes, specifications and certification, similar to schemes in the mobile phone and banking sectors;
- co-operation with international bodies to promote interoperability.
Other national and regional ticketing schemes are invited to join the alliance, with full membership offered to national ticketing and regional authorities and operators. Associate members are also welcomed.
- On behalf of the UK’s Department for Transport, public transport user body Passenger Focus has produced Smart Ticketing - What Passengers Want, the first of a planned series of reports exploring customers’ needs and attitudes towards smart ticketing.
