The U.K. aims to have a plan by the end of this year that lets people use their mobile phones or smart cards to pay for travel across England's public transport system.
The government calculates such a system could save £2.6 billion (US$4.3 billion) per year in cash, convenience and the reduced use of motor vehicles. The smart cards and mobile phones would use near-field communication (NFC) technology, with embedded microchips storing transport credit.
The system would be centered around a technical platform called ITSO, which was created by a nonprofit organization. ITSO is a set of technical standards for integrated smart ticketing, which would allow passengers to use smart cards or their mobile phones for tickets sold by different transport entities. It is an open specification, and any manufacturer can build products that use it.
The system offers many benefits for passengers. Tickets don't have to be purchased in stations, which reduces queues at stations, passengers can board buses and pass through turnstiles faster, and passengers don't have to deal with loose change.
For information contact andrew@zipstripe.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment