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| Subject: ITSO members represent 85 per cent of UK transport operators. | |
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Author: proposed supplier, an EDS-led consortium |
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Date Posted: 19:32:27 01/17/03 Fri http://www.vnunet.com/News/1128001 Super smartcard for buses and tubes By Liesbeth Evers [08-11-2001] Transport for London begins trials of £1bn Prestige system Transport for London (TfL) has begun trials of its £1bn Prestige smartcard ticketing system that will go live on all London buses and tubes by the end of next year. Card readers have been installed in tube stations as well as on buses, but will not be switched on until all 18,000 detectors are in place, said TfL, speaking exclusively to vnunet.com's sister publication Network News. TranSys, the consortium implementing the infrastructure, said that TfL intended to extend its smartcard project to cover London rail stations as well. Mark Shaoul, marketing manager at TranSys, believes the system will increase ticket revenue, as lost or stolen tickets would be 'switched off' so they could not be used. Initially, ticket information will be downloaded to smartcards via touch screens. Eventually, TranSys intends to expand the infrastructure to internet sales, with e-tickets downloadable via desktop smartcard slots. Ideally, a valid smartcard would open any barrier gate but TranSys could not say how barriers would operate if the network failed. "I have no idea," Shaoul said. "But that is the whole point of testing the system out - we can come up with a contingency plan." Jeremy Acklam, IT director at Virgin Trains, said the Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation was pioneering standards to let other transport companies implement their own ticketing information on the same smartcard. In that way commuters between Reading and London, say, could hop on a Reading bus, take the train to London and then finish their journey by tube, all with the same smartcard. "It's a lot easier and quicker to check ticket validity with a detector at the barrier gate," said Acklam. Green light for tube ticket plan By Sarah Arnott [09-05-2002] LU presses on with smartcard project ahead of national standard London Underground is pressing ahead with its smart ticketing project without using the emerging national standards for transport smartcards. The capital's 17-year, £1.2bn Prestige project will let Tube travellers pass through security gates by simply waving a pre-paid card at the reader. But incompatible technologies could see commuters needing one card for the Underground and another for mainline rail journeys. The Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation (ITSO) is developing a basic framework of standards so all travel operators can offer services on the same card. But the Prestige system won't incorporate the standard when it goes live later this year. Talks are underway between Transport for London (TfL), supplier TranSys and ITSO about how to integrate the different specifications. TfL says the project began too early to incorporate such a recent development. 'At the moment it is unproven and uncompleted so it is difficult for us to have a compliant card,' said a TfL spokesman. 'The goalposts have been moved since we started the project but if the standard is put in place we would seek to incorporate it.' ITSO director Jeremy Acklam says moving to the standard should not mean rebuilding the system. 'No one knows what it will take to swap the system over, but it is likely to be about the way the data is represented on the card, not about either the physical card or the reader,' he said. ITSO members represent 85 per cent of UK transport operators. LT smartcard hits buffers By Steve Masters [25-03-1998] null London Transports (LT) long-awaited #1 billion contactless smartcard project has hit fresh delays caused by contractual red tape. The project, codenamed Prestige, has missed a series of sign-off dates, and is now not expected to be finalised until May six months late. A private finance initiative project, Prestige is designed to provide contactless travel smartcards for use on tubes, trains and buses. LT blamed the delay on ongoing negotiations with backing banks and the proposed supplier, an EDS-led consortium, but insisted that the technology to be used on Prestige has been selected. An LT spokesperson said the project now needs to be cleared by LTs board of directors and the government, which could take an indefinite length of time. How long is a piece of string? she said. Report by Gavin Clarke [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] |