Rail operators expand smart card ticketing

Travel Behaviour

Train operator Southern hopes to roll-out smartcard technology across its network, after receiving funding from Network Rail’s £100m station improvement fund.

Southern is currently running a three-month trial of its smartcard – ‘The key’ – with 100 passengers on the Brighton to Seaford line. Southern says the card could enable a number of new ticketing possibilities, including ‘early bird’ season tickets for passengers who travel earlier than the morning rush hour, carnet-style season tickets, and integrated rail-bus ticketing. Operator Govia has a franchise commitment to introduce the ITSO-compliant card to 54 stations and the funding from the station improvement fund will enable the cards to be rolled out to a further 91 stations.

Meanwhile, ScotRail has awarded a £500,000 contract to Fujitsu Services for the supply of support services for ITSO-compatible smartcards, including the set up of a HOPS and CMS.

ScotRail has been trialling a smartcard on the Edinburgh-Glasgow Queen Street corridor. A spokesman said more than 400 season ticket holders were now using the card, adding that this was the largest smartcard pilot project in the rail industry. 

Discuss smartcard ticketing and more at the transport technology conference TRAVEL 2020 this November