Smartcards for Scotland
“The Logica back office system has worked perfectly from the start. It has enabled us to realise a once-impossible vision of easy-toadminister, national concessionary travel which brings enormous benefits to all concerned: the people of Scotland, Transport Scotland, the Scottish Government and all the transport operators involved.” Gordon Hanning, Transport Scotland
About Transport Scotland
Transport Scotland is the national transport agency. They handle major public transport projects,
sustainable transport, road safety and accessibility and national concessionary travel schemes, among other responsibilities.
The challenge
Over 300 individual bus operators had to be brought into the scheme. This was a considerable
challenge but there was powerful motivation as well. It offered clear benefits to the Scottish
public and to Transport Scotland — an accurate and reliable way of reimbursing operators for the
concessionary journeys they provided.
Our Answer
Transport Scotland’s concessionary scheme went live on 1 April 2006. The solution uses smart
cards that are compatible with ITSO, the government’s latest security standard. To begin with, it was a ‘show and go’ system, where passengers presented their smart cards to drivers. With electronic ticket machines (ETMs) installed on buses, the process of journey recording is now becoming automated.
The scheme uses secure wireless network (WLAN) technology and a back-office system that’s
custom-made. The ETM stores data until the bus goes to, or near to, a depot, where a WLAN retrieves the data and stores it locally.
Data is then encrypted and sent to an asset management system/ host operator processing system (HOPS), which decrypts the data and passes it to the back-office system. An impressive range of detailed reports are generated that help Transport Scotland in two important ways. Firstly, to authorise payments for bus operators and then to pass these authorisations on to the Scottish Executive so they can pay the operators.
A success story
£180m project with Transport Scotland marked a milestone in the development of smart tickets. This was recognised with the Best Transport Partnership of the Year award at the 2010 Scottish Transport Awards.
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