Highlights from Transport Ticketing Global 2023 – Featured Case Studies & Tech

In our second post of highlights from Transport Ticketing Global 2023 we summarise some key transit ticketing case studies,  technology solutions, and announcements featured at the event.

Case Studies

The event showcased global projects bringing insight into the wide range of challenges that transit agencies have around the world. The range of different approaches to solve local challenges in innovative ways and the clever use of technology, was a breath of fresh air to many in the audience. Stand out presentations included:

‘Tagless’ Fare Payment for Public Transport in a Megacity ‘Seoul’ from Joanne Yu at T-Money, talking about their Be In Be Out’ trials. This provided deep insight into the innovation deployed and was very honest around some of the challenges to adopting BIBO-based solutions.

“Beyond the idea of transportation ticket in the time of Smart City development in Taiwan” from Ting Chen and Ivan Chiu, from EasyCard. Whilst much of the rest of the world is making a headlong dash to open loop, EasyCard are exploiting the potential of their closed loop solution developing new use cases and promoting the card through various means, including creating the card in collectable form factors. They were enthusiastic and engaging as presenters, showing real passion to drive integration of services beyond just transit ticketing, in areas such as retail, financial social inclusion, social services payments and ID.

New Concepts & Technologies

It was great to see a number of innovations and emerging touch-less ticketing solutions not only being discussed at the event but actually being rolled out in successful user trials, globally. So-called Be in, Be out (BIBO) solutions are starting to gain traction. These use Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology on mobile devices communicating with a multitude of beacons in locations such as buses and train stations to automatically identify and validate ticket holders without the requirement for any direct interaction with the user or use of barrier/gates etc. For example, the Seoul public transit authority plans to expand their current BIBO-based trial to a full public launch by 2025. It was also great to see smaller technology providers such as ZED Digital showcasing solutions in this space.

Listening to a number of presentations on this topic, it’s clear this technology has huge potential to both reduce cost and improve the passenger user experience but there are still clear technological challenges to overcome here, particularly around the placement and configuration of BLE beacons to accurately and reliably identify users, particularly in very busy environments. The theme of social inclusion becomes very relevant here in that are obviously a significant number of travellers who for various reasons would not be able to utilise this kind of solution.

On the devices side, it was encouraging to see a growing number of providers of ticket validating devices and solutions improving the portability and functionality of devices, including supplementary features such as the ability to photograph/log incidents directly from the device. This is an attractive proposition for example, smaller bus/tram operators whereby drivers and conductors can re-utilise these devices to easily capture and log faults and issues with their vehicles.

Announcements

The following event related announcements and news articles caught our eye:

Payment Solutions

The Future of Ground Transportation Payments

Klaipeda, Lithuania to pioneer contactless payments in public transportation with Ridango technology

Tampa Bay transit authorities roll out open loop contactless ticketing with fare capping

Innovations

Vix Technology and Transport for Wales partner to launch new digital-first smart gate in UK

DDOT adopts Token Transit app for mobile ticketing

STM and Transit test new AI-based tool to monitor bus detours

Validator and Payment Devices

Ridango’s DV21R Validator: The Advanced Ticketing Solution for Public Transport

Encouraging ridership

RTA reports 35% increase in Dubai’s public transport ridership in 2022

It’s no secret that the bus and motorcoach industry continues to emerge from the shadow of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Transport Authorities and Infrastructure

Arriva awarded €300 million contract for bus and rail services in The Netherlands

USDOT partners with City of Austin for innovative infrastructure projects

TfL’s new real-time information Countdown boards to make bus travel easier

TfL proposes enhancements to bus services in outer London

Go-Ahead celebrates 20% increase in women bus drivers in UK

Transport Scotland report recommends changes to enhance women’s safety on transit

FlixBus and Belle Vue launch new cross-country coach service in UK

Solent Transport becomes first UK local authority with rail ticketing accreditation 

Regulation and Policy

Call for regulatory regime around remote driving technology

MaaS and Shared Urban Mobility

Making MaaS a more attractive user experience

FlixBus and Greyhound launch shared booking platform for inter-city travel in North America

King County Metro unites on-demand services under Metro Flex

MaaS: A piece of the mobility integration puzzle for a richer transport experience

Transdev: The first MaaS operator in the world

Reducing Environmental Footprint

UK government funding to bring zero-emission buses to Northern England’s roads

Yutong Delivers First Electric City Bus to Saudi Arabia

First Bus to Deploy an Additional 117 Wrightbus Electric Buses

Construction begins on WMATA’s second zero-emission bus facility

 

 

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