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| Subject: winner announced in February 2003 | |
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Author: Dutch To Start Trials With National E-Ticketing |
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Date Posted: 08:00:19 02/02/03 Sun http://www.railjournal.com/altfeature1.shtml Dutch To Start Trials With National E-Ticketing Trials will begin this year for an ambitious project to introduce an electronic system with one form of payment for travel by bus, tram, rail, and metro throughout the Netherlands. David Briginshaw Editor-in-Chief TRANS Link Systems (TLS) was set up to implement e-ticketing in the Netherlands by the five largest transport operators in the Netherlands: Amsterdam Municipal Transport (GVB), Connexxion, The Hague Tramways (HTM), Netherlands Railways (NS), and Rotterdam Electric Tram (RET). TLS was established with an eye to the deregulation of Dutch public transport that began in December 2001. Other operators will be able to join TLS in the future. TLS launched the project in December 2001 by inviting expressions of interest to develop the system. After receiving a positive response from more than 70 companies in January 2002, bidders were invited to pre-qualify in February. By the end of March, 19 parties had applied for pre-qualification. TLS selected the following six consortia: • Accenture, MTR Corporation (Hong Kong), Thales, and Vialis • EDS International, Cubic Transportation Systems, and Siemens Netherlands • ERG Transit Systems and Interpay Netherlands • Getronics Business Solutions, KPN Telecom, and Hitachi Europe • SchlumbergerSema, and • T-Systems ITS. The first three groups have now been selected to go through to the final round of bidding. If everything goes according to plan, TLS hopes to sign a contract with the winner next month. The national roll-out will take place between 2003 and 2006. By then the system should be dealing with 1.5 billion transactions a year. Rotterdam will be the first city to try e-ticketing. A six-month trial will be conducted in Rotterdam this year. The objective is to iron out any flaws in the system. E-ticketing will be introduced on the metro, excluding the new Benelux Line where gates have already been installed, and NS’s Rotterdam--Hook of Holland line. All stations will be equipped with gates and scanners. This includes two NS-RET interchange stations at Rotterdam Central and Schiedam Centrum. Up to 300,000 commuters are expected to participate in the trial. Two more projects are planned this year. E-ticketing will be introduced in Amsterdam in the autumn on three GVB tram lines involving about 25 trams. The system will also be introduced on 125 buses operated by Connexxion in the Harderwijk, Zwolle, Apeldoorn and Amersfoort area. TLS has set some onerous conditions for bidders. Candidates needed to have a turnover of at least Euros 250 million. They had to be able to prove that they had built or operated a similar system in the past, and whether it will be compatible with the Dutch project. “We only want to use proven technologies in the Netherlands,” said Mr Jeroen Kok, director of TLS. “We don’t want to saddle passengers with teething troubles. The system has to run smoothly from the start. They must also have an office here so that they can provide quick service. They have to show that they can cope with the whole chain, from access registration and payment to data processing and other services.” The system must also be easy to use because payment has to be fast and problem-free. “The number-one priority is customer convenience,” Kok said. “You can use modern technology to design really clever solutions for electronic ticketing in public transport. But we aren’t looking for miracles; what we want is convenience. If it’s quick and easy to use then we’ve achieved our goal. We definitely don’t want a system where you first need to learn a technical manual by heart. Foreign businessmen and tourists, who have no idea of our fares or timetables, must also be able to use the system right away. We’re not going to experiment with new technology, but apply methods of electronic payment which have proven successful elsewhere in the world.” The system must be highly flexible. Just as the Interpay pin machines in the Netherlands accept all bank and credit cards, so TLS equipment must accept the electronic tickets of all the participating transport operators. The objective is to make life easier for the passenger. There will be no need to carry small change, as the same pass can be used for all types of public transport including taxis as well as to park a car. The user will be able to choose the method that suits him best. Various options will be possible with the chip imbedded in a travel pass, or other objects such as a key ring, a mobile phone, or a watch. The scanners must be able to read the chips up to a maximum of 10cm. There will be two types of chip: personalised for season ticket holders who will pay through their bank at regular intervals and non-personalised chips for pre-paid travel. This should speed up the travel process and bring an end to long queues at the ticket booths. TLS foresees other benefits. Safety will improve for the personnel as well as passengers because gates at main stations will only allow access to paying passengers. The gates will also cater for the needs of handicapped passengers. “It is also important for us to persuade rather than compel customers to pay electronically,” Kok said. “Transport companies will do this through loyalty programmes. They might, for example, offer regular travellers air miles or discounts for museums or Eurodisney. Or they could offer reduced rates for off-peak travel. All in all, this will improve transport and offer benefits for anyone who wants them. The option of paying with a mobile phone and credit card will also convince passengers of the convenience and the time savings.” As the travel patterns of customers can be analysed, operators will be able to offer discounts to frequent passengers to travel off-peak to ease peak-period congestion. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |
| Subject | Author | Date |
| Re: The system must be highly flexible Netherlands. | Interpay accept all bank and credit cards, | 08:06:27 02/02/03 Sun |
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