TRAVEL CARDS IN THE YEAR 2000 The Helsinki region ushers in the smart card era

摘要

Once the travel card system for the Helsinki region has been fully implemented, it will be one of the most advanced ticket sales and fare collection systems around. Passengers will carry remote contactless travel cards. They will be able to load the cards with travel rights for a certain period (a season ticket), or with stored cash value that can be used to pay for trips (a stored value card). The card may also combine both attributes. When passengers use these cards as season tickets, they will flash their cards at a remote reader when boarding a vehicle. If a passenger's card is valid, the reader beeps and a green light comes on to show that his card has been approved. Take another case: here a passenger wants to use a stored value card to pay for her fare. She presents the card to the remote reader and presses a button to indicate which kind of ticket she wants. The card then registers the purchase. The data transmission, back-end and front-end systems will be faced with a formidable challenge, as the system as a whole will process some 2 million transactions each day. The system that will be introduced is only a basic version. It can still be enhanced in a variety of ways to produce results and to match up to the expectations people have of it.