Project Leader(s): Professor Phil Blythe
Sponsors: Funded jointly by South and West Yorkshire PTE’s and the Department of Transport, TORG were subcontracted by Scheidt & Bachmann GmbH - Fare Collection Systems.
Partners: SYPTE and WYPTE
External Website: http://www.yorcard.co.uk/pilot
Start/end dates: 2007-2010
Contact: phil.blythe@ncl.ac.uk
The Yorcard pilot was at the forefront of delivering an innovative Public Transport smartcard system, providing the technology to enable a number of industry ‘firsts’, notably the first smartcard scheme to accept all English National Concessionary Travel Scheme smartcards on bus equipment and the first use of rail tickets on a smartcard platform. Yorcard was the first scheme to successfully trial touch on/touch off technology and offer a multi operator Pay as you Go product. It was, at the time of operation, the largest by transaction volumes and most diverse ITSO compliant scheme in England.
TORG provided a range of research and evaluation tasks to the pilot stages of the project including pre-installation surveys of operation, post-implementation surveys, focus groups and engagement with many stakeholders and ultimately the development of a business case for the future investment in a Yorkshire-wide smartcard. The pilot provided valuable information on the potential of smartcard systems to increase the attractiveness of Public Transport, speed up journey times, reduce fraud and improve administrative efficiency.
Evans GD, Guo W, Blythe PT, Burden MJ. Integrated Smartcard Solutions: Do People Want One Card For All Their Services?. Transportation Planning and Technology 2013. Submitted.