Easing travel in London’s congested public transport network

In one of the largest roll-outs of smart cards worldwide, TranSys the consortium of Cubic, EDS, Fujitsu and WS Atkins is implementing a major new revenue collection project across the entire London Underground and bus network, for Transport for London (TfL) and London Underground Limited (LUL).

TranSys is using NXP Semiconductors’ MIFARE technology for the contactless smart cards provided by G&D and SchlumbergerSema, to provide fast access to the Underground and buses. This GBP 200 million investment – Europe’s first major contactless smart card installation and one of the largest ISO 14443A smart card projects in the world – focuses on improving the ticketing and travel experience for the capital’s commuters and is a major step towards an integrated transport network for London.

With nearly seven million bus and Underground journeys every day, London’s public transport network is one of the busiest in the world. TranSys, working in partnership with TfL and LUL on this huge project to improve London’s ticketing system, has already installed new touch screen ticket equipment, electronic gates, ticket office machines, bus ticket machines and more. It also addresses infrastructure needs, including an extensive communications network linking the entire system to a central computer. Such a large and complex project requires the know-how of a number of different companies, who have formed the ‘TranSys’ consortium to implement all of the above in the first four-year period of a 17-year contract with TfL/LUL.

TranSys have opted for a MIFARE-based system because it is the industry standard for contactless smart cards with over 80% global market share - being a proven, reliable technology and completely ISO 14443 compatible. The consortium also benchmarked the project against other new systems across the world to ensure London has a fully state-of-the-art system, using the latest technology to maximize ease-of-use for passengers and staff.

TranSys is installing around 16,500 remote ticketing devices (Cubic Tri-Reader®) throughout London’s transport system. The introduction of smart cards will begin in August 2002 with the introduction of staff passes, with other cards being phased in from early 2003. NXP estimates that it will have shipped 2-3 million MIFARE ICs for this project by the end of 2002.

The contactless cards will help speed the movement of passengers through the system, since travel details can be validated as the holder passes the card over the reader, avoiding the need to stop and insert it into a slot. Such cards have already shown their capabilities in many other large-scale projects, proving easy-to-use and extremely cost-effective.

For the London project, TranSys and TfL plan to expand on the success of their new ticketing system to build a complete London-wide e-system through franchising, which could include parking and even extend the ticket system to include plays and concerts. This system could act like a passport for passengers who, using just a single smart card, would have access both to London’s public transport system and a variety of other services – including, perhaps, an evening’s entertainment.