Transport Card Forum has been running since 1997 after being set up by Smartex on behalf of the UK Department for Transport (DfT). The TCF is a membership based association open to all those involved in transport applications of smart cards and smart customer media within the UK.
This year, the conference’s theme is The Whole Journey Experience; there will be talks from a variety of councils and companies, covering topics such as Planning Your Journey, Executing Your Travel Plans and In-Journey Activities and Options. We are one of Transport Card Forum’s official supporters for TCF15, something we are extremely excited to be able to announce.
Nottingham City Council will be talking about their move towards smart ticketing, a strategy which we have helped implement through the installation of 40 smart payment kiosks for use with public transport following our successful integration into the South Yorkshire transport industry.
These kiosks have been situated in key areas in Nottingham including Milton Street, Upper Parliament Street and Mansfield Road in order to enable a smoother public transport experience as customers can top up their smartcards at a time convenient to them, rather than only when travel centres are open during working hours. Smartcards hold the same information as paper tickets, but can be used to ‘tap’ into a journey, eliminating the need for on-board queues. They are also less prone to theft than cash, making customer journeys safer.
By joining the movement towards cashless transport, Nottingham City can reduce the cost of travel within the city centre. When public transport uses contactless payment methods, there is only a low level of cash which needs to be collected. This is extremely costly and forces services to push the price up for cash transactions. Transport For London estimated that by turning entirely cashless, they have saved upwards of £24million each year. This suggests that, as well as improving the speed and efficiency of public transport services, going cashless can provide savings which will go into further improving the transport systems.
These points and more will be touched on in Nottingham City Council’s opening statements; Nottingham’s Smart Future and Smart Ticketing for Nottingham – A Strategy Challenge, 10.10am and 10.30am on Wednesday 23th September respectively.
The 2015 Transport Card Forum Conference will be held at Council House, Old Market Square in Nottingham over 23rd and 24th September. Talks will be running from 9.00am until 4.45pm on both days; the exhibition will be open during breaks. Cammax will be located at Stand 14 at the back of the conference room, where we will be able to answer any of your questions on our smart ticket kiosks, kiosk software and anything else you may want to know, including the benefits of moving towards payment kiosks and successes.