Transforming access to and payment for transport services through the use of smart cards

The use of an electronic smart card as an alternative means for users to access and pay for transport services is now emerging as a viable option for many operators. In the past, the use of smart cards has been promoted by their proponents primarily as a mechanism for payment. However, in reality, the smart card has the capability and flexibility to offer much more to the field of ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems). This paper elaborates on the above statement, with examples of both current and future uses of the smart card, which extend beyond being just a payment medium. Smart card technology is by no means new; it was invented more than 25 years ago and implementations have been made with smart cards for almost two decades. Nevertheless, only within the past four or five years have transport operators and other system providers begun to introduce, on a medium to large-scale, smart-card based systems either to complement or replace existing means of payment and service access. The success of these significantly-sized schemes has moved the smart card over the cusp, from a "new technology" to a "standard technology". This, in itself has opened up the market for smart cards and their associated technologies.