TICKETING
The future of ticketing and revenue collection will be contactless in all its forms, says Cubic’s business development director,Colin Fullalove.
T
he technology behind ticketing seems forever changing; however, no mat-
ter which technology is used, all ticketing systems have three essential requirements – collection, protection and allocation. To meet these demands, ticketing and rev- enue collection need not only be ‘smart’, it needs to be intelligent.
In the 1990s, smart cards revolutionised public transport for consumers and service providers alike. Aptly named ‘smart’, these cards have enabled passengers to take control over their transport requirements in a faster and more convenient manner than paper ticketing ever allowed. From Hong Kong to Seattle, this innovation has brought on a paradigm shift in how users view tickets to such a degree that the con- cept of ‘starting-points’ and ‘destinations’ has become increasingly obsolete.
While smart cards are enjoying their hey- day, new technologies are presenting new opportunities to the landscape of ticket- ing.
Near field communication (NFC) is poised to bring another step-change to transport ticketing. Best known for its role in ena- bling mobile payments, NFC will facilitate a wide range of innovative services and applications for consumers, from mobile ticketing to access control for cars, homes, hotels and offices.
Barcode ticketing has played, and contin- ues to play, a useful role in pushing for- ward the evolution of transport ticketing more generally. Despite initial concerns over fraudulent duplication of tickets, it is widely accepted as an interim evolutionary phase of ticketing before NFC takes off.
Meanwhile, the integration of EMV (the common standard developed by Europay, Mastercard and Visa) card reading capa- bility into ticketing, vending or payment machines looks set to provide further im- petus, providing a standard that is certain to be the next big revolution, and not only in contactless payment technology.
Contactless in all of its forms, the future of ticketing revenue collection is poised for this intelligent integration.
68 | rail technology magazine Feb/Mar 11
Ticketing will revolve around the con- vergence of financial services and mobile technology, now ready to unleash enor- mous potential for their credit or debit card pockets to be the ‘one-stop-shop so- lution’ for consumers. This convergence will also strengthen measures for secure payments and fraud prevention.
For domestic passengers, the process of buying a ticket, catching public transport and having tickets checked will change completely. Intelligent back offices behind the ticketing infrastructure will always ensure ‘best fare’, allowing flexible travel for passengers who do not always know how far they are going, or if their inten- tion may change en route, allowing for a system similar to mobile phone talk plans and tariffs.
Public transport systems will also become more accessible for international visitors who may not be familiar with the ticket- ing system or have the correct currency in hand.
For operators, this intelligent ticketing will lead to an increase in revenue by increas- ing accessibility to tickets and cost-effi- ciency across mass transit transportation systems. Virtual ticketing offices and gated unmanned stations will bring in reduced fraud and staff costs.
Operators and transport authorities will increasingly use the wealth of mined data available to enable all levels of the trans- port infrastructure to handle ever increas- ing numbers of passengers.
As Cubic develops, installs and manages these ticketing systems, it is clear the fu- ture of payments is contactless, but what’s next?
Smart media will move to contactless phones and the tapestry of different ticket- ing technologies will continue to develop.
Contactless EMV cards are an innovation whose time has come, but there will not be a wholesale migration – traditional ticket- ing is not dead yet (although it’s been look- ing rather peaky lately).
The key is to blend all these technolo- gies seamlessly and to harness the maxi- mum potential for passenger and opera- tor alike.
Colin Fullalove FOR MORE INFORMATION
Colin Fullalove T: 01737 782200 E:
colin.fullalove@cubic.com W:
http://cts.cubic.com/
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