Skip to main content

ASK to supply 1.3 million Mifare Plus cards for new Panama buses

France-headquartered ASK, a specialist in mass transit contactless smart cards, has been selected by its client system integrator Sonda to deliver the contactless cards for Panama’s brand new Metrobús network. The central American city is undergoing major modernisation of its public transport system with brand new buses, Metrobús, and a brand new Metro which is currently under construction.
March 22, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
France-headquartered ASK, a specialist in mass transit contactless smart cards, has been selected by its client system integrator Sonda to deliver the contactless cards for Panama’s brand new Metrobús network. The central American city is undergoing major modernisation of its public transport system with brand new buses, Metrobús, and a brand new Metro which is currently under construction.

Contactless technology will enhance the city of Panama’s new modern and convenient bus system. These new contactless smart cards will offer more services to passengers, easy throughput and allow the transport operator to offer a customised fare collection structure. ASK contactless smart cards are based on eco-friendly technology which uses silver ink antenna and direct die attached process. For Panama’s project, ASK also provided a long expertise and know-how in secret keys handling, a major service to produce and use Mifare Plus cards.

“Panama’s government wanted to improve the quality of the transportation service for its citizens. It was essential for us to rely on an experienced partner to implement this new ticketing system,” said Daniel Guerra, project manager at Sonda.

Related Content

  • Insight into China's smart cities initiatives
    April 25, 2013
    Schneider Electric, which has been playing an active role in smart transportation systems in China since 1990, provides an insight into smart city initiatives in the country. Today, most cities across the world are facing unprecedented growth, which questions the viability of the current development model. They are immersed in a competition with each other, both domestically and internationally, in terms of investments, jobs and talents. Cities need to become more attractive and intelligent by becoming more
  • Transportation hub the centre of sustainable urban development
    November 21, 2012
    A marriage of transit, technology and culture is taking shape in Minneapolis, with ITS systems vital to hopes for a sustainable development centred on a hub of public transportation. Construction started in July this year on ‘The Interchange’ – a station in the Midwest US city of Minneapolis claimed as the most spectacular expression yet of the fast-spreading North American concept of transit-oriented development (TOD). Due for completion in 2014, the Interchange is designed as a multi-modal public transpor
  • Transport integration separates rural idyll from remote isolation
    June 13, 2017
    David Crawford investigates the operation of Total Transport in some of Europe’s more rural areas. Total Transport is a concept that is gaining traction in Europe as a means of making it easier for people without access to a car and living in rural and remote communities, to travel to work, the shops, schools and hospitals. It involves maximising vehicle availability and integrating scheduled services with other transport services (including taxis) commissioned or contracted by more than one local governmen
  • New York pioneers online mobile real-time bus tracking
    May 22, 2012
    An unusual technology collaboration. David Crawford investigates Early in January 2012, the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) rolled out the first borough-wide implementation of its pioneering Bus Time online mobile real-time tracking service. The system allow commuters to track each bus on every route in real-time on the internet, via smartphones and by text messaging to a mobile phone. The MTA chose Staten Island for its first live launch due to it being the only one of the five Ne