Yesterday (15.02.2012) a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed by representatives of the organisations for technical specifications of VDV KA (Germany), ITSO (UK), AFIMB (France) and Calypso Network Association together with representatives of UITP (International Association of Public Transport). The MoU presents a platform for cooperation in the context of today's infrastructures and systems and a way forward to establish a European Alliance for developing European interoperability. It was signed at the IT-TRANS conference organised by UITP and KMK (Karlsruher Messe- und Kongress GmbH).
YESTERDAY (15.02.2012) saw another major step forward in making transport ticketing across parts of Europe simpler and easier for passengers.
An EU IFM ALLIANCE is proposed to be set up and supported by the EU Commission that creates a trust scheme for Public Transport Smartcards that mirrors the Trust Schemes in the mobile phone industry, banking etc.
The EU IFM ALLIANCE trust scheme will cover:
• Rules, specifications and governance requirements for membership
• Compliance checking, award of certification, and actions to be taken in the event of non-compliance
• A recognisable scheme mark and published list of compliant schemes in the Trust network
• Manage relationships with other trust schemes
Once the EU-IFM ALLIANCE has been created and is operational, it is recommended that a pilot be created to test the portal, the trust scheme and the necessary compliance of smartcards as they interoperate between transport schemes and across mobile phone networks and with bankcards.
The electronic ticketing issue features strongly in the EU Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) agenda, being included in the white paper on transport strategy, the ITS directive and a priority for DG MOVE Urban ITS expert group. It also addresses the challenge by EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas to be able to access public transportation wherever you are in Europe and to hold all your ticketing in a single smart "wallet".
The EU Interoperable Fare Management (IFM) project (www.ifm-project.eu) ended in June 2010 with great and proven success. The conclusions from the IFM project are still valid. The
new techniques using contactless bankcards and mobile phone solutions are compatible with the IFM methodology and could support a wider European interoperable ticketing concept and open up for further development as well as new mobile payment solutions.
The public transport sector is willing to actively take part in a further development to meet the goals presented in the various recent EU-proposals. But there is a need to use the knowledge and the investments done by the public transport sector and develop it further.
With the IFM approach and the road map presented in spring 2010, there is a viable solution for electronic ticket interoperability which above all also meets the important subsidiarity factor for the public transport sector. Moreover, this approach fits well with all other transport sectors and other potential contactless smart card and mobile applications.