Transport Scotland has chosen Unicard’s smart ticketing system to manage its commercial journeys and the Scottish National Concessionary Travel Scheme.
Unicard’s Host Operator or Processing System (HOPS) is a central back office solution that supports ITSO accredited smart ticketing schemes. It will allow Transport Scotland to monitor live data, track concessionary fares, and securely manage smart transactions.
The system will also support the Scottish Government’s plans to introduce a national concessionary bus travel scheme for the under 19s age group and disabled children under five with free transport for a companion. Unicard also says it can be configured to support commercial ticketing for other modes of public transport across Scotland.
The agreement is the tech supplier’s first major deployment in Scotland.
“The Unicard HOPS will play an integral role in supporting concessionary travel across Scotland,” says Sean Dickinson, CEO of Unicard. “We continue to expand our solutions and services to other parts of the UK, while continuing to work closely with some of the largest local authorities in England.
“Our solutions portfolio helps customers to capitalise on new opportunities presented by future transport zones, and the renewed investment in public transport. Our fully integrated and hosted solutions enable local authorities to incorporate bikes, e-scooters and electric vehicles to their existing bus and rail travel schemes.”
Debbie Walker, Business and Operations Manager at Transport Scotland, adds: “Public transport services in Scotland have had to adapt to the COVID-19 situation. The Unicard platform will help us to ensure that concessionary ticketing services are provided to the highest standard and with continuity, allowing us to use the data produced by the platform to monitor journeys and passenger numbers.
“This deployment reflects our ongoing investment in digital services to deliver a sustainable transport network that allows all journeys in Scotland to made using smart ticketing or payment.”
