Concessionary Fares – English Local Authorities Face An Uphill Struggle

In April 2008, under the guidance of the DfT, the English national concessionary transport ticketing system will go live. This means:

• All 291 local authority databases of concession holders must be cleaned and have facial images appended
• Smartcards will have to be produced for all concession holders, surface and chip personalised according to the ITSO specification
• Smartcards will have to be issued to all concession holders as well as managed through card management systems
• Training of drivers and other staff will have to have taken place

It is noted that, in most cases, the cards will not be checked electronically as buses will not have been equipped with suitable terminals (Electronic Ticketing Machines [ETM]), unless they are one of the small number of authorities already using or developing ITSO smartcard schemes. Consequently, the cards will be used in show-and-go mode until such time as the buses are equipped (no time commitment imposed).

So time is short and there is much to be done just to get all this in place. However, it does not start and end with concessionary transport; what of the DCLG and its e-enablement agenda for Local Authorities; and what of Council plans to deploy citizen cards to support ICT access to Council services? Surely one card would avoid confusion among citizens, enable infrastructure sharing and economies of scale? And what about ensuring accessibility and inclusivity for all?

Thus councils are faced with implementing a system alien to them, in an impossible timeframe, and missing an opportunity, leading to a downstream wastage of money and resources, and coupled with citizen confusion as cards are replaced and/ or second cards issued. On the other hand, with the right knowledge and input, it would be possible to plan for the future now and install a scheme that meets both the DfT's requirements and is designed to satisfy the Council's aspirations.

ALCO Consulting is a strategic consultant in ICT. We are experts in transport ticketing technology, having been instrumental in the development of ITSO, and are prime movers in the development of international standards in this area. We are also the UK representative on the European standards committee developing the European citizen card.

However, this expertise and knowledge, while essential, is not what is needed by Local Authorities today. What is initially required is a higher level approach to develop a Vision of where this is all leading to, so that a Strategy, Roadmap and Plan for action can be developed, taking into account mandatory requirements, essential timescales and Local Authority wider requirements. This task can be completed quickly by ALCO Consulting which operates on just this level while having the essential knowledge at its fingertips – but time is short.

For more information contact Chris Graham at chris.graham@alco.eu.com or call 01344 382110.