Skip to main content

Vix enables UK first for Stagecoach bus passengers

A new NFC Phone application developed by Vix is enabling a UK first for Stagecoach bus passengers in Cambridge. The innovative trial, which could lead to a nationwide roll out across select bus and rail services next year, is enabling the small cross section of participating bus users to receive, store and validate their bus tickets using their mobile phone.
June 25, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
RSSA new NFC Phone application developed by Vix is enabling a UK first for 805 Stagecoach bus passengers in Cambridge. The innovative trial, which could lead to a nationwide roll out across select bus and rail services next year, is enabling the small cross section of participating bus users to receive, store and validate their bus tickets using their mobile phone.

The pilot marks the first time that NFC versions of 3836 ITSO standard tickets have been commercially operated, with the trial contributing to the UK government’s vision to enable most public transport journeys to be undertaken using smart ticketing by December 2014.

The Vix NFC phone application enables a virtual card to be loaded onto a smart phone to be used for travel by tagging the phone against an electronic ticket machine as if it were a physical smart card. Additionally, the transport user is able to view the details of the ITSO transit products loaded onto their phone using its display, allowing them to see at any time the status of their transit products purchased.

“Smart phones are playing an increasingly important role in helping people manage their busy lifestyles and are already used across many areas of life,” says 256 Stagecoach Group finance director, Martin Griffiths. “We believe this technology can also make public transport easier and more convenient to use. Once this trial is complete, we will carry out a review of the findings and assess the potential to expand the scheme further for our passengers.”

Related Content

  • Blackpool expands partnership with Parkeon
    May 20, 2013
    Blackpool Transport in the UK is expanding its partnership with transport ticketing technology specialists Parkeon after awarding the company the contract to deliver a multi-faceted platform as part of the on-going NowCard ITSO smart ticketing scheme, together with a commercial smartcard solution that will utilise the area’s extensive PayPoint retail outlets. The contract will see 150 electronic ticket machines (ETM) installed as replacements for the company’s TGX150 machines, which will have been in servic
  • Confidex to supply smart ticketing for Glasgow subway
    January 28, 2013
    Finland-headquartered contactless fare media supplier Confidex is to supply Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) with contactless ITSO (the UK technical standard for interoperable smart ticketing) smart tickets to replace the magnetic stripe tickets currently in use across the Glasgow underground system. The tickets will be encoded and issued from vending machines, parking machines and ticket offices. SPT assistant chief executive Eric Stewart says: “A key part of SPT’s subway modernisation work is
  • Scottish transport company to pilot smart ticketing
    January 26, 2017
    Interoperable smart ticketing systems supplier Rambus Ecebs is to partner with Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) in Scotland in a pilot program for the newly announced host card emulation (HCE) ticketing solution, which will be delivered by Nevis Technologies, the joint venture company formed between Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), Scotland’s regional transport partnership and Rambus Ecebs. Roll-out for the first HCE ticketing solution is planned during 2017. The program uses a com
  • Cubic unlocks ‘the key’ to Southern Railway
    September 26, 2014
    The UK’s Southern Railway has extended the use of its ‘the key’ smartcard across the entire Oyster network in London. Passengers on the Southern rail franchise can now use the single smart card from most stations to travel by rail, bus and Tube across the capital. Supplied by Cubic Transportation Systems, ‘the key’ was first trialled in November 2011 on Southern’s Brighton to Seaford line. It was subsequently rolled out across most of their network for journeys outside the Oyster network and those termin