Andante is a

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

ticketing system used in and around

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. It started operation in November 2002 at

Metro do Porto The Porto Metro ( pt, Metro do Porto), part of the public transport (mass transit) system of Porto, Portugal, is a light rail network that runs underground in central Porto and above ground into the city's suburbs. ''Metro do Porto S.A.'' was ...

stations and is now a cross-network ticket used on the Porto Metro, selected bus and train routes and the

Funicular dos Guindais The Guindais Funicular ( pt, Funicular dos Guindais) is a funicular railway in the civil parish of Cedofeita, Santo Ildefonso, Sé, Miragaia, São Nicolau e Vitória, Portuguese municipality of Porto. History The original line was inaugurated o ...

cable railway. Two types of card are currently in use: *Occasional or Azul (blue): This card is a rechargeable ticket intended for occasional riders, and contains a small, flexible memory card within the laminated ticket. The card has an estimated life-span of about one year. *Season or Gold: Similar to a

credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...

in shape and material, it has a memory chip on the surface. Gold tickets also feature the holder's name and laser-scanned photograph. It has a life-time of several years. Occasional tickets can be bought at the terminals in stations. Ticket machines can recharge both kinds of ticket, although Gold tickets can only be purchased in ''Lojas Andante'' (Andante Shops). Tickets can also be recharged at

MultiBanco Multibanco is a portuguese interbank network. It is the largest interbank network in Portugal owned and operated by SIBS (Sociedade Interbancária de Serviços S.A.), that links the ATMs of 27 banks in Portugal, totaling 12,700 machines as of Dece ...

ATMs. When purchasing tickets, passengers must select how many zones the card will allow travel within. The minimum Z2 (2 zone) ticket allows travel for 1 hour after validation, with allowed travel time increasing for each valid zone purchased. Unlike others ticket zoning systems, Andante zones are not concentric. This makes the system slightly fairer, but also slightly more complicated. To travel within the same zone or up to one neighbouring zone you need Z2 ticket, the more zones you need to cross, the higher the Z ticket you need. Although with Andante Occasional you can use your tickets in any zones, with Andante Gold you must choose in advance which zones you will be travelling in. The system uses

ISO/IEC 14443 ISO/IEC 14443 ''Identification cards -- Contactless integrated circuit cards -- Proximity cards'' is an international standard that defines proximity cards used for identification, and the transmission protocols for communicating with it. Standa ...

type B for communication between card readers (check-in points, automatic

vending machine A vending machine is an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, cigarettes, and lottery tickets to consumers after cash, a credit card, or other forms of payment are inserted into the machine or otherwise made. The fir ...

s, vending stores and controller handsets) and the card itself. The system is entirely contactless, with validation activated by holding the ticket a short distance in front of the reader for about a second. Teams of ticket inspectors make random checks across the network with hand-held ticket readers.

References

External links

Official website
Contactless smart cards Fare collection systems in Portugal Porto Metro {{tech-stub