ITSO Ltd is a non-profit membership organisation assisting standardisation of public transport ticketing in the United Kingdom. Its objectives are to: *maintain and develop the ITSO specification for transport

smart card A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card (ICC or IC card) is a physical electronic authentication device, used to control access to a resource. It is typically a plastic credit card-sized card with an embedded integrated circuit (IC) c ...

s *operate and manage an

interoperable Interoperability is a characteristic of a product or system to work with other products or systems. While the term was initially defined for information technology or systems engineering services to allow for information exchange, a broader defi ...

smart media environment *facilitate and support development of smart ticketing schemes that comply with the ITSO specification. ITSO was established as a result of discussions between various UK

passenger transport authorities In the United Kingdom, passenger transport executives (PTEs) are local government bodies which are responsible for public transport within large urban areas. They are accountable to combined authorities, which were created between 2011 and 2016 ...

concerning the lack of

standards Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

for interoperable smart card ticketing. These discussions grew to include other authorities, transport operators and government. ITSO membership covers the breadth of the transport sector including transport operators (bus, tram and train operating companies), suppliers to the industry, local authorities and public transport executives. Supported by the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...

, ITSO has links with major transport industry organisations and established smart card schemes in the UK and overseas. ITSO started out as the Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation but this name has been dropped and is now just 'ITSO'. That is because the specification covers other forms of ticketing besides smartcards and transport. The Department for Transport introduced in 2008 the

English National Concessionary Travel Scheme The English National Concessionary Travel Scheme is a national scheme by the Department for Transport in conjunction with local authorities across England. The scheme extended the provision of free bus travel within individual local authorities ...

for all people of retirement age and eligible disabled persons (according to the Transport Acts 1985 and

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

) using buses, which uses ITSO smart cards.

Transport Scotland Transport Scotland ( gd, Còmhdhail Alba) is the national transport agency of Scotland. It was established by the Transport (Scotland) Act 2005, and began operating on 1 January 2006 as an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government. Organisat ...

and the

Welsh Government The Welsh Government ( cy, Llywodraeth Cymru) is the Welsh devolution, devolved government of Wales. The government consists of ministers and Minister (government), deputy ministers, and also of a Counsel General for Wales, counsel general. Minist ...

have implemented ITSO in their concessionary travel schemes.

Specification

The ITSO specification is a technical platform on which interoperable smart ticketing schemes can be built. It defines the key technical items and interfaces that are required to deliver interoperability between components of a ticketing system – smart media (smart cards), points of service and back offices – and separate ticketing systems. ITSO is unique in transport smart card specifications in that it covers all these components.

English National Concessionary Travel Scheme

The

is a national scheme by the Department for Transport in conjunction with local authorities across England, in which ITSO worked to standardise and ensure interoperability of cards and readers. The ITSO logo features on the bottom right corner of the bus pass.

Members

The ITSO member list includes most of the major bus operators, ticket issuing system vendors and

passenger transport executive In the United Kingdom, passenger transport executives (PTEs) are local government bodies which are responsible for public transport within large urban areas. They are accountable to combined authorities, which were created between 2011 and 2016 ...

Non-ITSO systems

The largest commercial-based scheme is by Transport for London, marketed as

Oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...

. TfL has funded Oyster readers for all London rail stations in zones 1-6, and the Department for Transport has worked with TfL to ensure the readers are compatible with the ITSO specification. The UK's equivalent interoperability organisation for sectors other than transport ticketing is Lasseo, which provides an open specification for UK local authorities to add public services onto ITSO based cards. A Scottish consortium of local authorities looks at standard and interoperability issues in Scotland.

ITSO on Mobile

In 2018, ITSO launched ITSO on Mobile, partnering with

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

to allow passengers to buy and use ITSO tickets on their Android mobile phone. Transport operator members of ITSO can integrate ITSO on Mobile into their existing ITSO schemes, including their retail apps and websites. Purchased tickets are delivered to the Google Pay digital wallet on the phone. The first trials were in 2018 with

West Midlands Metro The West Midlands Metro (originally named Midland Metro) is a light-rail/tram system in the county of West Midlands, England. Opened on 30 May 1999, it currently consists of a single route, Line 1, which operates between the cities of Birmin ...

. ITSO on Mobile is now available for season tickets on

as well as Transport for West Midlands' nNetwork season tickets, and the

Tyne and Wear Metro The Tyne and Wear Metro is an overground and underground light rail rapid transit system serving Newcastle upon Tyne, Gateshead, North Tyneside, South Tyneside, and the City of Sunderland (together forming Tyne and Wear). The network opened in ...

. ITSO on Mobile is delivered by Yotra Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of ITSO Ltd that has been created to develop, deliver into service and then operate ITSO on Mobile.

References

External links

*{{Official website Contactless smart cards Fare collection systems in the United Kingdom