July 2015
Abellio has chosen the ITSO-based smart ticketing system provided by Nevis Technologies and has big plans for smart ticketing.
Abellio chooses Nevis Technologies as its smart ticketing provider
The Dutch company has been running the ScotRail franchise since April this year and has big plans for smart ticketing. Nevis Technologies back office HOPS system was successfully implemented in time for its franchise takeover.
Nevis Technologies is the joint venture company set up between Rambus Ecebs and Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), which is running the ITSO-based smart ticketing system for smartcards currently being used in Glasgow’s Subway.
Dan Schoenhofen, ticketing project manager at SPT, told the recent Scottish Transport Applications & Research (STAR) conference in Glasgow that 77,000 smartcards have been issued since the launch of the Subway smartcard in October 2013.
A fares differential encourages smartcard uptake – a single ticket using the card is £1.40 compared with a cash fare of £1.60. SPT is now exploring options to grow usage to 60%.
Schoenhofen said the ITSO compatible card could be used by other organisations and confirmed that Abellio has appointed Nevis Technologies to provide smartcards, a back office system (HOPS) plus customer and card management system for travel.
Abellio ScotRail smartcard holders can currently load season tickets for main commuter routes but there are plans for many more ticket offerings and seat reservations, as well as multi-modal, multi-operator integration with Transport Scotland, starting with Glasgow’s Subway.
Currently, more than 86 million passenger journeys are taken a year on ScotRail services. Some 13 million passenger journeys were taken on the Glasgow Subway in 2014/15.