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TICKETING AND PAYMENT


Above: The Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) region in Germany has a smart system allowing easy ticket purchases regardless of operator and transport type. Pictured is the RMV HandyTicket app.


Why interoperability? Why now?


The idea of interoperability is not new, so what explains the current quickening of interest in the concept, and the urgency apparent in pan- national initiatives such as EU-IFM?


There are a number of reasons that explain the enthusiasm. The most pertinent is the broad package of benefi ts IFM delivers, to passengers, transit operators and governments alike.


Take passengers fi rst. When a journey consists of separate ‘legs’ using different transport modes — bus, rail and metro, for example — buying a ticket for each one is inconvenient and time-consuming.


There are big advantages in having a single ticket, valid on all modes, accepted by multiple operators, and compatible with the full range of automated readers and validators. Customers don’t have to carry multiple paper tickets, or queue at ticket offi ces or ticket machines, and boarding buses is faster so journey times are shorter.


Like all businesses, public transport operators need to reduce costs, increase revenues and keep the customers satisfi ed. Smart ticketing does more than just cut the cost of paper tickets, substantial as that is.


It also provides operators with data about who their customers are and how and when they travel, and individual customer data is priceless — just look at what supermarkets do with it! Not only does it help operators match supply with demand, but in today’s ‘always on’ digital culture it also enables them to, fi rst, tailor travel products to customers’ needs and,


second, promote them using the innovative marketing methods used by other market- focused retail businesses.


Governments, meanwhile, welcome anything that persuades their populations to switch from cars to public transport. Growing global populations are increasingly concentrated in mega-conurbations, with reduced distances between towns and cities, and commercial and industrial districts. Emission reduction targets are getting tougher, coinciding with consumers’ growing awareness of the environmental impacts of their travel decisions.


Furthermore, the pressure these factors exert on public transport systems is coming at a time of global economic uncertainty, when resources are scarce and expansion of the transport infrastructure is diffi cult.


As well as making travel more straightforward, IFM generates data that enables operators to predict, infl uence and manage demand, meeting it as much as possible using existing capacity.


This is a powerful catalogue of benefi ts, and what makes realising them a practical, not a theoretical, proposition is the impact of digital communications technology — not only on what it’s possible for operators to deliver, but on what people expect them to deliver.


Consider the exponential rate of adoption of smartphones and the concept of the ‘mobile wallet’ as an alternative to paying with cash or credit cards.


With so much industry momentum built up behind the concept, the idea is almost certain


Above: Martin Howell, worldwide communications director at Cubic Transportation Systems


to catch on, while public awareness of Near Field Communication


(NFC) technology


is increasing dramatically as the range of applications continues to grow. Increasingly, consumers take for granted a ‘wired’ (or rather ‘wireless’) environment in which access to information is usually a click away, and they expect it from the mass transit industry as they do from other industries.


If they can track a package from Amazon on their smartphone, they certainly want to fi nd out when the next bus is due and be able to pay to travel on it.


Fundamentally, interoperability calls for new relationships between operators and equipment suppliers.


The value of partnership between supplier and customer is touted so much that it can become a business cliché, but it really is essential in this case. Operators need to pick their partners carefully, because interoperability is about more than hardware and software.


Ultimately, interoperable smart ticketing has the potential to transform public transport.


It makes travelling more attractive to passengers, because it’s convenient, easy to use, and economically attractive; more profi table for operators, by reducing costs and improving effi ciencies; and helps meet the requirements of governments to move growing populations around and between expanding cities, in an environmentally-responsible manner and using existing infrastructure.


opinion@railtechnologymagazine.com TELL US WHAT YOU THINK


rail technology magazine Feb/Mar 13 | 29


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