Exhibition

Between conferences and presentations, visitors had the opportunity to browse the exhibition, giving a great opportunity to make contacts with companies both familiar and new. An interesting display was by Scheidt & Bachmann (S&B), which was showing its on board card/ticket validator. The unit is currently in use on buses in Toronto and can be linked with an on board vending machine. Also being demonstrated was S&B’s FareGo back office system, which brings all a fleet’s fare collection and ticket issuing hardware together, reporting on various aspects of fare collection. A number of these reports are in real time where this kind of information provision is appropriate, whilst others are reported as soon as the data becomes available, for instance, at the end of a shift. In its native Germany, S&B has been awarded a contract from transport provider, AKN Eisenbahn AG, for the delivery of ticket vending machines (TVMs) and the supporting FareGo Data back office system after a Europe wide public tender. The new FareGo Sales ST|40 TVMs will be delivered in two phases, completing in September 2014.

In addition to this, S&B is currently developing a handheld validator with a major German transport operator. The system is designed to have a substantial battery life. The power unit itself is positioned at one side of the unit’s rear, forming a handle and has been designed for the battery to be exchanged without the device shutting down.

Smart technology company, Ecebs, demonstrated its card and software systems. Capable of working with any type of transport provider, the company is perhaps most well known for its Pearl and Diamond smartcards used by passengers on SPT’s Glasgow Subway. The ITSO compliant cards enable smart travel on bus, rail and ferry. However, it also provides its Paragon smart ticketing solution for Nottinghamshire City Council’s easyrider cards. They provide EMV compatible payment that allows operators to launch not only new travel products but an entire fare platform, without reissuing cards.

Access Interfacing Solutions has been involved in the transport ticketing industry throughout the transition from paper tickets to barcode and electronic smart ticketing and payment systems. According to its marketing material, it has continued to respond to innovations in the sector, having evolved its technology to read new forms of media, including smartphones, tablets, NFC smartcards and contactless devices. It is currently developing a wireless on board validator, which is fitted with a combined barcode, NFC and RFID (radio frequency identification) reader.

UK based Masabi promoted its mobile phone ticketing systems. It has been developing the solutions since 2007 and serves nine UK transit agencies. It has a background in providing secure payment services on mobile phones with flexible cloud based software, which it claims will accommodate any transit fare structure. According to its marketing material, its solutions will noticeably transform any transport network in months rather than the years it claims traditional fare systems take. Its JustRide product allows passengers to buy tickets and plan their trips using mobile phones, as well as provide real time analysis, combining apps for customers, the back office and conductors. At the conference, it was on the verge of announcing the acquisition of a significant contract from a US operator.

Having been a pioneer in the field of contactless technology since 1983, Infineon was making visitors aware of its capabilities in IC cards, or smartcards as they are also known. For public transport applications, it provides its CIPURSE package, which has been chosen by the OSPT Alliance, an international fare collection organisation, as its security standard for transport and ticketing. Infineon claims its offerings are proven and reliable, delivering the performance its customers expect at affordable prices.

Looking to make an impact in the UK was Spain’s GMV. The company offers a range of products for the transport market, including onboard equipment such as its ticket vending devices, validators and inspection terminals. It also has several management applications, providing software for fare configuration, data debugging, statistics reporting and ticket sales.

A French card manufacturer, AP Cards, showed a novel item. The plastic card holder not only stores the card away neatly and safely, it also has a section containing a fold out piece of paper that could be used for timetables or other information. It could also be used as advertising space, earning extra income.

Newbury Data was displaying its latest printing equipment, which can print a variety of tickets, including thermal coated paper or plastic, magnetic stripe or 13.56 MHz ISO14333 RFID contactless credit card sized tickets. The company supplies to a number of the industry’s ticket machine providers.

Cubic, the company behind the delivery of London’s Oyster cards, displayed its latest ‘next generation’ of ticketing equipment, its video ticketing office. This provides a live video link with a staff member to aid the customer in purchasing a ticket or to provide travel information.

As well as a number of companies potentially coming into the UK, there were familiar ones including Vix Technology. The company won the Transport Ticketing Technology of the Year award at the show, which recognises continuing advancements in the fare collection system it designed and operates for Salt Lake City’s UTA (Utah Transit Authority). Judges applauded the advances it has made in applying contactless payment technologies with its electronic fare collection platform, Vix eO (easy and open). Vix continues to leverage advanced contactless technology and the eO system enables riders to pay fares not only with cards issued by the UTA, the FAREPAY prepaid card, but also with student and employee ID cards, bank issued credit cards, ISIS mobile wallets and Google Wallets. This new technology is widely available as part of Vix’s global open payment fare collection offering based on commercially available off the shelf software components.

Trapeze was in attendance, mainly promoting its mobile ticketing capabilities rolled out for Arriva. The company can combine this ticketing solution alongside real time information to offer passengers a way to assess their options in order to buy the best ticket for them. Something else its representatives were talking about was its Be-In-Be-Out Ticketing solution. It requires passengers to carry a chip card, which is activated as soon as they enter a bus or coach. The system determines whether they are on the inside or outside and registers the appropriate trip transaction. Further to this, the company showed its real time systems, transport apps and had one of its ticket machines on display.

Parkeon promoted its capabilities in fare collection and the relevant back office systems. The latest from the company is the plan to go live with contactless EVM payments for a Helsinki operator at the end of the year. It has been involved with local transport authorities, exploring contactless options which also support magnetic and contact cards and tickets, meaning separate machines are not required, effectively keeping costs down.

With displays featuring Nottingham City Transport (NCT) buses, INIT was showcasing the extensive work it has done with the operator, rolling out an entire real time fleet management, automatic vehicle location (AVL) and ticketing system. One of the latest products it has rolled out with NCT is the PROXmobil2, a fare collection device that supports all variations of e-ticketing. It has a large, colourful touch screen that allows passengers to select the fare most suited to their needs. The software behind it supports varying standards, from ITSO to future credit card based applications. Business Development & Project Manager UK, Jens Mullak, said, ‘We’re showing you can achieve a transport network to the level you find in London but on a smaller scale with us.’

Last word

The exhibition is reason enough to attend Transport Ticketing 2014 and Passenger Information 2014, whilst the debates and presentations are vital for anyone involved in fare collection, ticketing and passenger information. My advice would be to attend both days of the event to ensure enough time is given over to attending as many presentations as possible and getting the most out of the exhibition.

By Chris Peat