UK: Following an initial deployment on Transport for Wales Rail services, Unicard has announced the nationwide launch of its ticketing Hub platform which aims to simplify the implementation of contactless ticketing across modes and operators.
The supplier-agnostic platform is designed to provide a ‘London-style experience’ across a range of public transport modes, allowing passengers to tap in and tap out using bank cards rather than buying multiple tickets.
EMV card payment can operate seamlessly alongside legacy non-EMV ticketing systems.
Open APIs provide a standard interface for account-based ticketing engines that accept taps from both EMV cards and other tokens such as ITSO, apps and barcodes. Operators can consolidate schemes into a single back office and avoid vendor lock-in, by enabling them to mix card-reading hardware within a single deployment. It is also scalable for Mobility-as-a-Service deployments.
‘It allows operators to offer a more comprehensive, joined-up customer experience’, said Commercial & Products Director Alex Sbardella. ‘Unicard has committed to open and transparent industry collaboration with competing suppliers. The solution fully complies with all integration standards and GDPR-compliant data ownership and sharing, whether for centralised systems or decentralised solutions tuned to local needs.’
