Strathclyde Transport deploys smart ticketing platform for Glasgow and West of Scotland | CiTTi Magazine

Unicard, a provider of smart ticketing and payment solutions to the public and commercial transport sector, has announced that its smart ticketing platform has been contracted by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) on behalf of the ZoneCard Forum to digitalise paper-based ZoneCard ticketing on ScotRail, the Glasgow Subway, and most bus routes in the west of Scotland.

The Unicard solution migrates all paper-based ZoneCard products onto a digital smart ticketing system.

Following the recent launch, users can now purchase a new ZoneCard ticket via a website or dedicated mobile app or purchase a ZoneCard ticket from a shop.

It has removed the need to buy paper tickets from the driver when boarding, and instead ‘tap in’ whenever they travel.

The smart ticketing platform is designed to improve the passenger experience and reduce the complexity involved with managing paper tickets.

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ZoneCard Forum chair Ryan Sorley said: “ZoneCard has been an essential ticket for many customers using bus, rail and Subway over the years.

“Working together with SPT, the ZoneCard operators are delighted to launch this modernised ZoneCard offer, making full use of smart ticketing technology to provide convenience and flexibility for customers.”

Based around national smart ticketing standard ITSO, Unicard’s platform is compatible with smartcard ticketing systems used by other local authorities and transport operators in Scotland.

This means that users with an existing transport card such as Transport Scotland’s National Entitlement Card can add ZoneCard tickets to it without needing to purchase or carry a new card – thereby cutting down on the production of new plastic cards.

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Unicard’s ticketing platform comprises its mobility-as-a-service-ready ticketing platform, a central back-office solution encompassing a high performance ITSO host operator processing system and flexible customer management system, which securely processes all smart transactions.

The combined solution is supported by a dedicated customer self-service web portal, and mobile app for iOS and Android devices.

Also cloud-based, the solution has been designed to support different modes of transport and mobility services as and when required.

It can also be configured to support account-based ticketing in line with fare capping and flexible travel schemes.

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