Why Join?Travelling Smartly The Transport Card Forum (TCF) has evolved over 12 years into the eyes and ears of the Department for Transport on smart technology in the UK. Its meetings and working groups have helped to mould the industry’s growth and provide a gateway to collaborations, training and information on smart transport. Every major scheme in the UK has links to the TCF, which continues to grow as new opportunities for smart cards emerge. Smart cards are now used in many parts of the world as the premier consumer ticketing or payment token for a broad range of public transport applications. Other smart media, such as NFC enabled mobile phones, are being added as carriers of the tokens. The first 10 years of this Millennium have seen technical standardisation of smart ticketing attain its first goal of providing standards for country-wide schemes. The UK is now participating in the next stage project for a standard for wider area through ticketing. Many of the benefits which this technology can enable - for the travelling public, transport service operators and public sector - require a more integrated approach than has often been seen in the first decade of the century. In particular, a densely populated country with many urban centres (e.g. England) requires common methodology across the nation, while a large land mass such as continental Europe will benefit from through ticketing across national borders and between widely spaced but densely populated urban areas. At the same time, those urban areas need optimised ticketing and journey management for the high volumes of passengers regularly using local services. Such areas may well seek to deploy local use methods simultaneously with national methods - Transport for London (TfL) is already doing that: established Oyster technology for local use, together with acceptance of ITSO Products plus plans for ticketless travel within Greater London using direct bank payment with daily fare capping. Other citizen service market sectors within Great Britain are using smart technology in isolation from public transport ticketing, but are now seeking to share smart media across several application areas. Citizen service schemes may be local to small areas or serve a city, or may have regional or national scope. They wish to use both classic smart cards and also the NFC mobile devices that in 2010 are being prepared for the UK market, and have been encouraged by the issuing of 10 million ITSO compliant cards holding concessionary travel passes. Also there are a number of proprietary transport ticketing schemes, most of which are expected to migrate to the national methodology. The challenge at the start of the second decade of this century is to resolve the issues surrounding the hosting of several secure applications on a single instance of smart media – on one smart card or in a mobile phone – and the supply chain is now offering building blocks to the systems integrators and rule makers. At the national level, the DfT recognises that it has an important role to play in encouraging, promoting and in some cases overseeing the efficient and effective use of smart technology for those transport applications which fall within its remit. The department is therefore promoting and seed funding the 2009 detailed public transport ticketing strategy. Also there is collaborative work across government departments, in the form of Campaigns found at http://www.hmg.gov.uk/, where in particular the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is promoting multi-function smart media in its Building a Society for All Ages. To address the issues, and to make more cohesive the adoption of smart cards within transport schemes, the DfT encouraged the formation of a national forum, The TCF, through which all parties have learned and continue to learn of the various issues, needs and opportunities relating to smart technology for transport. W ith better knowledge and awareness of others' interests, the DfT expects that both the public and the private sectors will be better placed to develop smart card-based schemes. The TCF is also helping project planning to be undertaken with more confidence that the schemes will interoperate where appropriate, and so allow members of the travelling public to use a single token to accomplish a complete journey wherever possible. The TCF is open to any organisation or individual with an interest in the interactions between smart media (cards, NFC mobile devices, etc) and transport in Great Britain, whether as transport operator, PTE/ITA, local authority or group thereof, component or system supplier, consultant or other organisation concerned with the widespread adoption and use of smart technology. The main aims and objectives of the TCF are to identify, through its working groups and by regular plenary meetings, those specific areas where it feels there is a potential beneficial and active role to play in: - encouraging the introduction, co-ordination or development of smart technology in transport
- identifying and defining proposed actions for DfT and other organisations to take nationally or internationally
- initiating and / or influencing the development of standards
From the launch of the TCF in 1999, early consideration has been given to the concept of the "seamless whole journey", and to the implementation of a single specification for the combination of smart media with all aspects of transport including congestion charging, traveller information services, parking charges etc. The TCF has therefore supported the development of the ITSO Specification and Environment, and will continue in dialogue with ITSO Ltd during the delivery of the national ticketing strategy. The TCF will also continue to address the problems associated with the current set of transport-based City and Town card schemes that are operated in a fragmented way using proprietary components and systems. It is against this background that the TCF has remained the premier forum for education and networking across the entire community of suppliers and operators sharing a common interest in public transport ticketing. Louise Barnett of the DfT is the fifth (interim) Chair of the Forum and supervises a small Steering Committee to assist in the formulation of meeting programmes and working group activities. Smartex Limited provides administrative and secretarial services for the Forum, and takes responsibility for the financial arrangements, domestically and overseas, relating to operational and technical aspects, with a particular reference to transport applications. TYPICAL MEMBER COMMENTS
“Everyone who’s anyone in the transport industry is a member of The Transport Card Forum.”
Mel Pashley, Ecebs “The Transport Card Forum is uniquely valuable as it delivers instant access to the sector leaders and their wide-ranging knowledge. The Forum is tremendously useful for the DfT as it represents stakeholders in smart cards and in many related areas such as e-payment.”
Eric Sampson, formerly Director of Vehicle Telematics, DfT WEB SITE
The Forum has a dedicated private area for members in its website. Presentation material and other useful links are held here. The main Smartex site for all its forums is www.smartex.com. Members also receive regular specialised publications and Smartexpress, an emailed news service, is also provided within the membership fee. HOW TO JOIN
Membership is open to all, and is by annual fee in advance. Application forms and further information on membership services are available in the Smartex Forum Information Pack. CONTACTS
For further information or assistance, please call Richard Poynder, Chairman, The Smartex Group on 01440 712610 or email him at richard@smartex.com.
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