Article: Time to smarten up Oz smartcards

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Time to smarten up Oz smartcards

Time to smarten up Oz smartcards
by Rail Express — last modified Sep 28, 2011 12:05 PM

By Francis Dwornik*

One of the revolutions in global rail in the past two decades has been the proliferation of integrated electronic smartcard ticketing for commuters and Australia has much to learn from smartcard developments around the world such as Hong Kong's Octopus card and the UK's Oyster card.

These contactless smartcards operate now across many countries and in their ideal operation offer the commuter, transport operators and governments a seamless, one-stop, affordable and trackable fare solution across transport modalities. These cards should make travelling easier and faster for patrons.

Where their introduction and operations have not run smoothly, the main problems have been technological glitches, long delays, project management issues, budgetary blow-outs and warring between political opponents who seize the opportunity to earn points by undermining these troubled initiatives.

There is no doubt these problems are real and it is time for the different stakeholders involved in new rollouts to take account of the proven pitfalls. Strenuous project management is critical, accountability to the public purse equally so.

However, one must also keep in mind that these smartcards have been a pioneering technology and as each year passes, the teething issues of this new format lessen – and the benefits, such as integrating fare payment with limited retail or other electronic currency services, as occurs extensively in Hong Kong and more partially in Singapore, should only increase.

An important issue is also to accompany these electronic stored value card rollouts with powerful incentives to optimise commuter take-up.

In Hong Kong, when its Octopus card was introduced beyond initial trials in 1997, commuters were given three months to update from the former fare-payment options or have their ticket become redundant.

Three million Octopus smartcards were registered within three months by commuters and the system, whose multi-usage incorporates its use in stores, restaurants, carparks and as access security for schools, hospitals and so on, has been described as one of the most successful electronic currencies in the world.

In Australia, integrated contactless smartcards for public transport networks are already offered in Melbourne (myki), Brisbane (Go card), Perth (SmartRider) and Hobart (Greencard) with Adelaide plans for its card's introduction by 2013 and Sydney's Opal smartcard rollout starting next year.

Some of these projects have been difficult – Victoria's myki cost $1.3bn-plus to develop and introduce, and then its lifeline was threatened by the expression of doubts about its continued operation when the current state government took office. Only recently the government finally committed to its continuation, and the old Metcard system is to be closed down in 2012. This should assist in getting this smartcard well up and back on its feet.

The application of Australian smartcards varies in terms of how integrated these electronic cards are to different modes of transport, and how metro and regional services are integrated. But generally the final rollout of the cards will see them operating across multiple networks – train, tram, ferry, bus and light rail, as is applicable to each city.

Inspiring global developments

Developments around the world are inspiring in terms of the Australian picture. We are certainly only in the first-step phase in terms of exploiting the potential of this technology.

Alongside Hong Kong's Octopus success, Singapore's smartcard equivalent registers approx 5.308 million trips daily – that's half of its population, and it has limited use in the small payments retail sector as well. In some schools it is even used to monitor attendance records.

The UK's Oyster card is used within the Greater London area and its pay as you go system is linked to a user's bank account. It doesn't yet offer other currency usage but there is consideration for a contactless debit/credit card to be in use on London Buses in time for next year's Olympics.This signals a shift to the card developing a credit card facility. As it is, 80% of all journeys run by Transport for London use the Oyster card.

One of the interesting issues that crosses the use of different cards is where the system requires a user to "touch off" at the end of the journey to avoid the maximum fare (charged to the card at the start of each journey) being charged for the trip. Sometimes commuters forget to touch off; in other cases, technical hitches mean the touch off deduction is not registered properly. Such issues of course have had to be resolved in each case.

It is clear that smartcards, even in these initial phases of development, have huge potential to increase in sophistication. This is not yet the case in Australia but as the culture shifts here – and the uptake of cards increases as operations become smoother in the different networks – there is no doubt that consumers will start to demand the same kind of services that are offered by overseas counterparts.

This ongoing development needs to be factored ahead into the new systems that are being developed and phased in here. The increase of services linked to such a local electronic currency would certainly facilitate in increased patronage – a boon for all concerned.

* Francis Dwornik is general manager of Pacific Services Group Rail division.  Pacific Services Group (PSG) is a leading electrical engineering provider nationally.

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