£45m for modernised Irish tickets

Northern Ireland’s Infrastructure Minister, Chris Hazzard, has announced a £45m investment programme for a modernised ticketing system. Parkeon has been awarded the contract to design and deliver the new ticketing network. The development is intended to transform travel and lead to an increase in the number of people using public transport in line with a key Executive Programme for Government commitment. The current ticketing network was introduced 15 years ago and serves around 80m passenger journeys every year.

Translink Group Chief Executive, Chris Conway, said, ‘We are looking forward to working closely with Parkeon to introduce modern ticketing technologies that will create easier, integrated ticketing options offering customers more choice and convenience. Exciting enhancements will include the acceptance of contactless payment cards on bus, e-purse payments like the London style “Oyster Card”, ticket vending machines, gated rail stations and an online app for customers to manage their accounts and top-up their smartcards. Implementation is expected to start in 2018 with the new Bus Rapid Transit System. Following this, in 2019 we plan to introduce contactless payments for Metro and Ulsterbus services and customers will enjoy further technology enhancements as we phase in this new era in Translink ticketing which will attract more people to use the bus and train as travel options.’

MD, Parkeon Transportation, Owen Griffith, said, ‘I am delighted that Parkeon has been selected to deliver this prestigious new system and am looking forward to working closely with Translink to make sure that the project is a great success. As specialists in transport ticketing solutions, Parkeon has a deep understanding of how the technologies that Translink have selected for this project can bring significant benefits in terms of convenience and ease-of-use for passengers.’