INIT provides multi-client contactless ticketing system for Nottingham

System allows for easy payments and fast boarding processes

Cllr Adele Williams (Nottingham City Council), Nicola Tidy (NCT) and Jens Mullak (INIT). © Nottingham City Transport

Karlsruhe / Nottingham, 04 November 2020

A step towards passenger and driver safety in very difficult times and a means for faster boarding: INIT has devised a contactless ticketing system for Nottingham’s three public transport providers Nottingham City Transport (NCT), CT4N and Nottingham Trams Ltd. (NET Trams). “Nottingham Contactless” is the first multi-operator ticketing system in the United Kingdom outside London.

“Nottingham Contactless” replicates the existing ITSO-based, pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solution with a multi-operator capping scheme for EMV payments as well as mobile payments via Apple Pay® or Google Pay™. Since September 2020, passengers have been able to pay contactless for their tickets on-board NCT’s buses. The City Council’s Link buses and NET trams will be added to the scheme in mid-2021. In order to deliver the new system, the three public transport companies that make up the “Nottingham Contactless” partnership received upgrades of their integrated on-board computers and/or validators. In addition, they share the multi-client back-office application MOBILEvario.

By tapping a bank card or smart device on the PROXmobile3 passenger terminal, passengers in and around Nottingham can pay quickly and easily for their journeys. © Nottingham City Transport

Best-price calculation

In addition to Nottingham’s city-wide smartcard (the Robin Hood card), passengers now have a new cashless payment method for adult pay-as-you-go travel. It allows them to pay for journeys with their bank or credit card or with their smart phone/smart watch – with daily fare capping.

Nottingham Contactless

  • Nottingham City Transport (NCT): 305 buses on 60 routes
  • Linkbus: 30 buses on 11 routes
  • NET trams: 37 trams on 3 lines

High customer satisfaction during testing phase

Paying contactless is quick and easy. Passengers simply tap their card or smart device on the PROXmobile3 passenger terminal installed in the vehicles and wait for the green light to indicate that their payment has been accepted. Later they can see all their journeys and transactions at a glance on the “Nottingham Contactless” homepage. The system was extensively tested to ensure that everything would go according to plan. It was trialled for a month prior to full launch by 600 testers, gaining an impressive 96 % satisfaction score.

Fully accredited to the latest specifications

The system is fully hosted by INIT and is entirely accredited to the latest Visa and Mastercard transit specifications for contactless card payments, based on the Mass Transit Transaction model (MTT). It also supports payment aggregation, deny listing and debt recovery which run in the background. The contactless payment system complements the range of INIT products already in use in Nottingham: The Intermodal Transport Control System MOBILE-ITCS with Automatic Vehicle Location and Real-Time Passenger Information has been a mainstay of the local public transport system since 2010 when it was introduced by NCT.

Follow-up to successful contactless ticketing system in Birmingham

“Nottingham Contactless” is another important step for contactless systems implemented by INIT. In 2019, Birmingham’s National Express West Midlands (NXWM) introduced contactless payments in their buses. They have proven to be a tremendous success as more than three million contactless payments were made by passengers in the first year following implementation.

Cashless payments have been increasingly popular in recent years, and the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this shift away from traditional ticketing. The new system will mean safer, quicker boarding and an improved fare structure for users of the service. It also helps the operator make savings by reducing cash handling costs.

Jens Mullak

Managing Director INIT Ltd.

Contact

Jens Mullak

Managing Director

INIT Innovations in Transportation Ltd

United Kingdom

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