Siemens wins Transportation Ticketing Award 2013 for innovative smartcard

At the Transport Ticketing Conference in London, Siemens Mobility and Logistics has won the MasterCard Transport Ticketing Award 2013 in the category "Ticketing technology of the year" for developing the dual-function smartcard.

The fifth Transport Ticketing Conference & Expo took place in London from January 28-30, 2013. The conference is Europe's largest event for transport companies, local authorities and sector representatives for passenger services, covering all aspects of ticketing. As part of this conference, the first winners of the MasterCard Transport Ticketing Awards were announced. Innovative inventions were honored in five categories covering ticketing and fare management.

For this year's award, Siemens put forward a dual-function smartcard which integrates different means of transport. The smartcard, in credit card format, can be used intermodally for different means of transport and interoperably for different transport companies and fare networks as well as the associated service providers. Its dual functionality also enables the smartcard to be used for “Check-in/Check-out” (CiCo) access control systems and the “Be-in/Be-out” (BiBo) principle.

Unlike the CiCo principle, in which passengers actively scan their access pass with a terminal, the BiBo system offers maximum convenience for users. The smartcard is automatically recorded on entering and leaving the vehicle as well as at intervals during the trip using a contactless monitoring system. The route taken and any changes of class are automatically logged. Only the most economical fare option for the route actually taken will be charged.