National Smart Ticketing Advisory Board - Meeting Minutes - 16 July 2024

Attendees

Chair

  • Dr Andrew Seedhouse: AS

Board Members:

  • Alex Hornby: Bus Operator Representative AH
  • Claire Dickie: Rail Operator Representative CD
  • Diane Burke: Ferry Operator Representative DB
  • Hussein Patwa: Accessibility Representative HP
  • James Gleave: Transport Strategy Advisor JG (joined virtually)
  • Kirsten Urquhart: Passenger Representative KU
  • Margaret Roy: Local Transport Authority Representative (ATCO) MR (joined virtually)
  • Marilena Papadopoulou: Tram Operator Representative MP
  • Mary Docherty: Transport Scotland Representative MD
  • Matt Smallwood: Smart Delivery Advisor MS (joined virtually)
  • Michael Nimmo: Subway Operator Representative MN
  • Mostafa Gulam: Technical Systems Advisor MG (joined virtually)
  • Ranald Robertson: Regional Transport Partnership Representative (RTP) RR

Other attendees:

  • Bettina Sizeland: Director of Bus, Accessibility and Active Travel (Transport BS Scotland) (SRO) (joined virtually)
  • Kevin Ho: Programme Support Officer (Transport Scotland) (Secretariat) KH
  • Mark Speed: Partnership Director Tactran MS

Apologies:

  • George Beale-Pratt: Smart Policy Manager (Transport Scotland) (Sponsor) GBP
  • Juliet Bell: Smart Programme Manager (Transport Scotland) JB

Minutes

  • The Board confirmed they were content to formally sign off the minutes from the meeting held on 21 May 2024

Agenda Item 1: Transport Scotland Sponsor Update

AS presented the slides and provided an update provided by GBP.

  • NSTAB Work Programme approved by the Cabinet Secretary for Transport on 26 June. This will be published when GBP returns from leave.
  • Conflict of interest forms were shared with members to be completed on 4 June, and need to be completed by all members in order to comply with the Ethical Standards in Public Life legislation. These are required to be returned and submitted to the NSTAB mailbox if not already done so.
  • The Framework Document has been finalised and uploaded to Knowledge Hub. The updated Freedom of Information process and legal advice text was provided to members on 18th June. This will also be published on GBP’s return from leave.
  • Consultancy services are being procured at the moment to support the delivery of the NSTAB Work Programme. It is envisaged that this will support delivery of the baselining and review of existing schemes and standards in operation and be completed by October 2024.
  • The Smart Delivery Strategy was approved by the Cabinet Secretary on 1 July 2024.

Agenda Item 3: Project Coral Update

AS provided an update on the engagement taken place with Project Coral since the last NSTAB meeting.

  • AS shared the response from Project Coral and advised they will continue to engage with Project Coral to make sure their procurement is enabled for Scotland.

Agenda Item 4: Mapping Scheme

AS presented a blank draft NSTAB Benchmarking Scheme template for review and discussion. The work will include the completion of benchmarking of the as-is situation for smart ticketing in Scotland including a review of inclusivity, accessibility and value-for-money. It will also review the different smart ticketing approaches applied within the rest of UK as well as internationally. This work will be have consultancy support.

  • MG advised regarding the technology supported by each operator, we should capture when the contactless certification runs out, as these will highlight when hardware, firmware and software updates may be needed/possible.

Agenda Item 5: iBlocks - Tim Roberts

TR presented slides on the new ticketing development by iBlocks. The presentation was shared with the board members. iBlocks has worked with ScotRail to develop a mobile pay as you go solution and are working to launch a pilot trial.

  • RR asked if they are proposing to agree business rules to get bus companies to accept this form of payment and if they have already started the process. TR advised they are in the process of trialling this in two train operators. (ScotRail and South Eastern), and there is no contract to trial this on bus operators.
  • MD advised that Scotland has a large population that are entitled to 100% discounted travel and asked how they would design an application for this Scotland. TR advised that it would need to capture when a journey has completed, this could be possible achieved by GPS, location of bus stop, movement and speed to travel, but further development work is required.
  • MR questioned if there would be an issue using bar codes for buses as part of revenue protection for the bus company. TR advised that the driver would have a barcode reader that is able to scan the barcode and send the information to the back office.

Masabi - Ben Whitaker

BW presented slides on a new ticketing system developed by Masabi. The presentation was shared with the board members

  • AS asked if the flexi ticket is capable of working on UK rail and adhering to the requirement of Rail Delivery Group. BW advised that for UK rail gates to work with flexi tickets there will have to be software changes. BW highlighted Fujitsu Star handhelds which are used by some rail companies have options to turn on ability to accept flexi tickets immediately.

SPT ZoneCard update Lesson Learned

MN presented slides on ZoneCard and lessons learned from the rollout of the smart ZoneCard. The slides were shared with the board members. MN commented the ZoneCard prices hadn’t been reviewed properly since the last fare increase in 2020. MN advised there are changes to the zones, with there now being 7 larger zones.

  • MS questioned the methodology moving from an existing non-journey based approach to actual-journey tap approach. MN highlighted that the method is different, as before it was paper filing and a survey to record how customers travelled. This new method based on data being retrieved on actual journeys taken provides much higher quality data. However, currently there is limited data availability as the smart ZoneCard has only been on sales for 3 weeks.

Agenda Item 7: ScotRail Procurement - Claire Dickie

CD provided an overview of the current ScotRail procurement of the new app and web services. CD highlighted that several major contracts will conclude next year, providing an opportunity to review and improve them. CD advised they have asked suppliers to propose a centralised test solution that will serve as the backend system for ticket vending machines, website and app retail, bringing all retail into one system. The solution should also provide functionality for booking office and ticket office staff to access the backend system, thereby enhancing the overall customer experience.

  • HP asked if the procurement is potentially looking accessibility around multimodal access. CD advised they invited suppliers to share their insights on maximising and optimising solutions for everyone including specific accessibility features that they are seeking.
  • MP asked how long the procurement process is. CD advised the procurement will be complete by October/November 24.

Agenda Item 8: Smart Delivery Strategy

BS shared the presentation on the Smart Delivery Strategy and ran through the updated proposed policies and projects and the alignment to NSTAB. The presentation slides were shared with the members.

  • DB commented that they had pre-meet with the local authorities yesterday and need to maintain clarity about the objectives for under 22’s. MD advised there was an announcement made by the views at the Green Party last November around the intent to extend the under 22’s scheme bus travel to the Western Isles. MD commented the project on Northlink and Pentland Ferries was to technically enable smart ticketing on all the ferries to provide robust audit trails of reimbursements. MD highlighted they are continuing to seek if budget is available and noted CHFS 3 requires new handheld devices to accept ITSO smart ticketing.

Agenda Item 9: Sectoral Update

Due to the meeting being overrun, it was agreed that each sector will send in highlights updates.

Agenda Item 10: Next steps & AOB

MD highlighted that the Digital Travel Data Services Minimal Viable Product 1.0 is scheduled to be live 14 August 2024.

Date of next meeting: 10 September 2024. It was agreed that the next meeting will be a hybrid meeting.

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Published Date 7 Oct 2024 Type Mode of transport Topic