Public transport in South West England is being transformed through a partnership of local authorities and bus operators implementing smart ticketing across the region.

The smart ticketing initiative is joining up public transport throughout South West England. From the smallest transport operator to the largest, joining services together under a local smartcard scheme is simplifying travel for visitors and local residents alike. Eventually, over 3,400 buses in South West England will accept smartcards for travel on their services.

The partnership operates through a member organisation called SWSAL (South West Smart Applications Limited), which provides a framework to deliver and manage smart transport ticketing in the region.

While members are free to implement smart ticketing schemes that best serve local needs, SWSAL makes it easy and cost effective for members to set up new schemes. In particular, SWSAL encourages the introduction of multi-operator smartcards, providing flexibility and choice for passengers.

Smart ticketing schemes are now being rolled out across the region to enable most public transport journeys to be undertaken using smart ticketing technology. Through joined up services, faster boarding times, and convenient ticket purchasing, passengers are already benefiting from the type of integrated transport system previously restricted to major cities.

Andrew Seedhouse, Chairman, SWSAL added, “By sharing the technology infrastructure, SWSAL members have benefitted from lower costs and proven knowledge. This expertise and shared infrastructure has delivered ITSO transport tickets, eMoney and support services across the regional bus and rail transport network.”

Geoff Rumbles, Project Manager, SWSAL added “Minimising costs for our members was a key aim for SWSAL. ACT has been instrumental in the design and creation of an intelligent cloud ticketing and settlement service. The supporting infrastructure gives authorities and operators access to a shared platform that gives each authority independent control of any ticketing schemes they want to launch in their area.”

The flexibility each local member has to implement smart ticketing to most benefit their own local requirements has seen the launch of student combined travel and cashless payment schemes, integrated park and ride projects and collaboration on shared routes by local transport operators.

Gary Watts, CEO, ACT, commented, “We designed and delivered our cloud based ticketing and payment services so that authorities and operators can achieve economies of scale without losing the flexibility needed for local, tailored passenger ticketing and payment services. The SWSAL platform includes our CMS, HOPS ticketing transactions system, on-line ticketing and payment portals, sQuid eMoney fund management, and a network of Retail POSTs ®.

“This has been a very complex design brief to deliver against and has needed active, multi stakeholder involvement from local authorities, bus and rail operators, their advisors and SWSAL to deliver the interoperability needed for mass consumer adoption.”
Increasing the use of park and ride is high on the agenda for many cities, and a convenient ticketing process is a key driver to increase their use, reducing congestion and carbon emissions. As part of the system roll out, Bath, Bristol, Norwich and Salisbury are all implementing smart ticketing for park and ride schemes to make this service as convenient and accessible as possible.

Students will also benefit from the project. Smartcards are being launched for travelling to and from college or university, buying lunch on campus and offering personalised discounts from local retailers and restaurants. In Torbay, collaboration between ‘same route’ transport operators has meant an end to waiting for a particular operator’s service; students are now able to hop on the first suitable bus, using their smartcard to pay for the journey.

As all authorities and operators implement smart ticketing, eventually passengers should be able to travel all over South West England with a single interoperable smartcard.

 

-End-

Groupcall, the award-winning school-to-parent communication system, and sQuid, Smart Transactions Goup’s digital payments network, have joined forces to create a new integrated service for online payments and parental messaging.

The Groupcall Messenger platform used by over 2,500 schools in the UK will now include the sQuid ePayments service, enabling schools to create, manage and keep parents up to date with dinner money, trips, offers, payment reminders, emergency notices and much more. Schools have the ability to send text messages (SMS), emails and automated voice calls to parents, staff and other key contacts, and parents benefit from sQuid’s easy to use online smart account with multiple wallets.

Adam Smith, sQuid CEO said, “The integration of sQuid payments within Groupcall Messenger delivers a single view messaging and payments platform for schools, and brings our revolutionary payments service to parents. Together we help make school life easier to manage for
everyone – pupils, parents and teachers”.

Stuart Abrahams, Sales and Marketing Director at Groupcall commented “By integrating our parental communication system, Messenger with sQuid, we are now able to offer the complete package to schools with a reliable and cost effective parental payment solution”.

sQuid, the fastest growing ePayment platform in the UK education sector has teamed up with PayPoint to expand its account top-up capabilities. With more and more schools, colleges and universities removing cash from their campuses, providing alternatives to topping up the sQuid account has become more important. Now users can top up their sQuid smart account at 25,000 PayPoint stores nationwide, bringing additional convenience for parents and students alike.

PayPoint is one of the UK's leading payments providers, handling nearly 740 million transactions a year, with a value of £14 billion.

sQuid’s CEO Adam Smith commented: “Schools are moving towards a cashless future and sQuid and PayPoint are helping make this become a reality. sQuid-enabled school campuses are much more efficient and save the cost of expensive cash machines and end-of-the-day accounting, and sQuid is more convenient than cash for parents and students too.”

sQuid is an issuer of eMoney operating in the UK education sector today, bringing all the benefits of digital money to schools, colleges and universities.

sQuid’s agreement with PayPoint follows hot on the heels of its Smart Transactions Group sister company, ACT, announcing a similar nationwide agreement to enable smartcard top-ups for transit across PayPoint’s UK network
 

National ticket retail network launched in a deal between PayPoint and ACT

PayPoint has joined the ACT Cloud in a deal that will extend the retailing of UK smart card transport tickets, through PayPoint’s existing network of contactless-enabled payment terminals, in over 25,000 convenience stores, newsagents and forecourts.

PayPoint is the UK’s leading payments provider and currently processes a range of payments worth over £14 billion from almost 740 million transactions a year. PayPoint has been retailing transport paper and smart ticketing for past 10 years. This deal sees the UK’s best known retail payments network working in partnership with the UK’s leading smart ticketing systems provider, ACT. The innovative project will see Cloud Ticketing by ACT available across PayPoint’s extensive retail network to provide the travelling public with a convenient way to buy and top-up their smart transport cards.

ACT developed its Cloud Ticketing services to extend transport operators’ traditional ticket sales channels with a wider, more accessible retail network, giving passengers an easy way to buy and download tickets online, in-store or using an NFC-enabled mobile device. All the communications, transaction processing and payments are managed in the ACT Cloud so retailers don’t need to invest in additional hardware.

The rapid growth of ITSO smart travel schemes has seen an upsurge in the adoption of smart cards across the UK. Making it simple and convenient for passengers to load tickets and top-ups onto their smart cards, makes it easy for them to manage their travel arrangements, whenever and however it most suits them.

Seamus Smith, Managing Director of PayPoint UK & Ireland, commented, “We already have a strong track record in transport ticketing, having worked with many national and regional operators for over a decade. Our partnership with ACT brings our market leading services together in an integrated transport solution. We are now uniquely positioned to provide the travelling public with the simplest and most convenient method to load up their smart travel cards.

“Our ITSO ready, contactless-enabled terminals are deployed in over 25,000 locations, and our network is still growing. By joining the ACT Cloud, our partnership will provide transport operators with the opportunity to be at the forefront of the mass deployment of smart ticketing across the UK.”

Gary Watts, CEO, ACT, said, “This agreement offers greater choice for travellers to buy and top-up travel cards across the UK. Providing a broader, convenient retail network gives passengers the ticket buying options they need to make travelling on public transport simple and convenient. We are delighted to welcome PayPoint to the ACT Cloud and to extend the retailing of UK transport tickets through PayPoint’s network of over 25,000 retail outlets.”

ACT and PayPoint are showcasing the new ticketing services at The Transport Card Forum, at the Assembly Rooms in Bath, 24/25 September. ACT will be demonstrating Cloud Ticketing over a range of devices and PayPoint will be demonstrating ticket sales and top-ups on its payment terminal connected to the ACT ticketing cloud.

Smart Transactions Group company, ACT, has announced its new Cloud Services, which will provide passengers with a UK-wide retail network to buy and top-up public transport tickets using smart cards.
 
ACT’s Cloud Services extends transport operators’ traditional ticket sales channels with a wider, more accessible retail network, as well as enabling passengers to buy and download tickets online using a PC or NFC-enabled mobile device.
 
Giving passengers a range of convenient options to buy and top-up their smart travel cards makes it easier for them to manage their travel and payment arrangements, whenever it suits them.  In turn, transport operators benefit from having more passengers prepaying and arriving ready to board with their valid ticket, which will speed up boarding times, reduce retailing costs and lower ticket administration costs.
 
Whether online, on mobile or over the counter, card holders can buy tickets and load eMoney using sQuid’s FCA accredited secure payments network. To make life easier for passengers, card holders can set up auto top-up to ensure their card always have the funds available for their purchases.  Their accounts will also be available online 24/7, so they can view their account transactions whenever they like.
 
This announcement follows substantial infrastructure investment by ACT to deliver the cloud capacity to service the continued growth in the use of its online, in store and on mobile sales channels. ACT’s Cloud Services provides the secure, resilient and scalable infrastructure to support the demand for passengers to self-serve tickets at home, in store or on the move using mobile handsets.
 
ACT’s new Cloud Services infrastructure gives UK retailers the capability to sell multi-operator ITSO* compatible tickets. It provides the platform to manage all the communications, transaction processing and payment in the cloud and supplies the infrastructure to enable retailers to tap into the ACT Cloud. A number of retail partners are now set to provide an extensive, national retail network to transform the way tickets are purchased.
 
Gary Watts, CEO, ACT commented, “With the complexity and cost of smart ticketing increasing, we wanted to create a simple way for transport operators and authorities to sell transport tickets. We also wanted to make it easy for passengers to collect their tickets either at home, in store or on mobile. Extending traditional ticket buying options with a wider, more accessible retail network means passengers can buy tickets anytime, anywhere.”
 
“Thanks to our technological advances during the past year, we can now offer the full range of ACT’s ticketing services as a fully scalable Cloud Service, through our retail partners and growing online presence.”
 
ACT is showcasing its latest Cloud Services at The Transport Card Forum taking place at the Assembly Rooms in Bath, 24/25 September.

ScotRail has appointed ACT (Applied Card Technologies) as prime contractor to supply and support its smart ticketing infrastructure.

ScotRail is part of FirstGroup and operates domestic passenger trains within Scotland and the cross-border Caledonian Sleeper service to London. It undertook a two year multi million pound trial to implement an ITSO compliant smart ticketing solution for its flagship service between Glasgow and Edinburgh, which represented a significant investment in upgrading the ticketing, validation and ticket gate infrastructure.

Following the successful launch of this pilot scheme, the project was extended for a further two years and, following a comprehensive procurement process, ACT has been appointed prime contractor and systems integrator. The contract will secure ScotRail’s smart ticketing infrastructure until the end of its franchise agreement with Transport Scotland.

ACT has supplied its HOPS and CMS back office ticketing service to ScotRail since the smart ticketing pilot was launched in 2009. As part of the new two-year deal, ACT will continue to supply existing services but will also provide overall systems integration for the other key components of the infrastructure, such as gate validators, TVMs and smartcards.

The contract assigns overall programme management responsibility to ACT, leveraging its system delivery and support expertise and drawing on wide ranging expertise in bus and rail smart ticketing implementations. As the technical design authority, ACT will support ScotRail and third party sub-contractors to ensure that the technology, systems and processes are in place to manage the continued roll-out and development of the smart ticketing scheme.

Gary Watts, ACT CEO, said,” We are delighted to be awarded this prestigious contract. Over the last 18 months we have invested in our managed service infrastructure, together with our delivery and support capability, so that we can deliver services that put the customer at the heart of rail travel. Our established ticketing systems and solution design expertise put us in an ideal position to manage and support ScotRail’s transport ticketing infrastructure.”

Responsive ServiceDesk support

ACT’s expanded service operation has been selected to provide helpdesk support for ScotRail and all the sub-contractors supporting its ticketing infrastructure.
 
The ServiceDesk team support an international client base, across the public and private sector, with a highly skilled team of knowledgeable support engineers. ACT operates a system of clear ownership, so customers have a single point of contact to ensure a reliable and speedy resolution. Service monitoring technology is used to identify possible problems in customer systems before they impact service, so they can be fixed before there is any impact on service availability.
 
Gary Watts added,” We have been transforming our service operations over the last 6 months and have a knowledgeable team of support engineers, committed to achieving the highest levels of customer satisfaction. Coupled with our investment in infrastructure and service monitoring technology, we provide an agile and proactive operational service which assures the highest level of service availability.”
 

 

Wales Transport Minister, Mr Carl Sargeant visited Wrexham to formally launch the GoCymru card and gain a first-hand experience of how far the Welsh Government’s vision for a unified, sustainable transport infrastructure has advanced transport in Wales.

Since 2008, Smart Transactions Group-owned ACT has shared the Welsh Government’s vision and created a technology roadmap that turned interoperable, multimodal travel into reality on a national scale. The national Pay As You Go smart card (GoCymru) is the latest success story and is due to be rolled out nationally across Welsh bus operators during 2013.

Establishing a convenient and accessible retail network was the crucial next step in the Welsh Government’s ambitious plans to launch the UK’s most advanced ITSO transport infrastructure. The Retail POST by ACT is an EPOS system specifically designed to retail travel products and load them onto smart cards. Retail POSTs are now deployed in post offices, retail outlets, travel centres and universities across Wales. 

In addition to the extensive retail network, customers in the trial are also able to order cards online and top them up to a maximum of £50 – online and on bus. For this online service, GoCymru uses sQuid, Smart Transactions Group’s pre-pay electronic money (eMoney) payments network, which is independent of banks and registered with the Financial Services Authority (FSA), to create an easy-to-use Pay As You Go service for travellers.

Using the in store Retail POST, the Transport Minister was able to see just how easy and convenient it is for customers to buy transport tickets in store and get them loaded onto their smart card for use across all operators participating in the national GoCymru pilot.

Mr Sargeant, summarised the benefits of the GoCymru card, “Not having the correct change for the bus will be a thing of the past with the introduction of this new GoCymru travel card.”

“Providing the people of Wales with a realistic alternative option to the car for their everyday journeys is key if we are to develop a truly sustainable public transport network that is widely used across Wales. Part of this goal is to remove any misconceptions about public transport or any unnecessary inconveniences – such as not having the right change.”

And it’s not just the travelling public that are benefiting from the scheme. Another positive impact of the government backed national GoCymru travel card is the ability for small operators to implement the same ITSO based end-to-end ticketing technology as larger operators. This is due to the Welsh Government’s pledge to join up travel across the whole country, across multiple operators and modes of transport.

Gary Watts, ACT’s CEO commented, “Being a key enabler of the Wales Government’s vision to transform their national transport infrastructure has been a challenging and exciting journey. Establishing a high street retail presence with the Post Office using our ITSO and sQuid eMoney retail systems was a key milestone for the national programme.  The GoCymru card has a lot to offer the citizens of Wales in the future, and we have an exciting product roadmap to deliver the Welsh Government’s long-term ambitions.”

Gary added, “Being part of the Smart Transactions Group has uniquely enabled us to provide a complete end-to-end solution, leveraging sQuid’s FSA-compliant eMoney platform and payments network with our proven ITSO certified managed intelligence ticketing solution.”

To learn more about the pilot scheme go to www.gocymru.traveline-cymru.info/

End

'Oyster-style' smartcard Auto Top-ups are now available for Welsh commuters, as Wales trials its ITSO-based National Pay As You Go smartcard scheme.
 

Smart Transactions Group's operating companies ACT (Applied Card Technologies Limited) and sQuid, today formally unveiled their integrated ITSO Auto Top-up technologies to facilitate ‘Oyster-style' top-up capability for the UK’s travelling public.
 

With ITSO as the common technical standard platform, ACT’s ITSO Auto Top-up technologies provides an easy and convenient way for customers to pay for their travel. The Welsh Government were the first to implement ACT’s Auto top-up technology after introducing its ITSO based National Pay As You Go smartcard (GoCymru) pilot in October. Customers in the trial are now able to order cards online and top up to a maximum of £50 – online, on bus, in retail outlets, and operator travel centres. The scheme is due to be rolled out nationally across Welsh bus operators during 2013.
 

Smart Transactions Group's operating companies, ACT and sQuid, have worked together closely to bring the benefits of Auto Top-up to Wales. ACT provides intelligent ticketing and payment transaction engines, along with their leading CMS and HOPS systems and sQuid provides its FSA authorised digital e-money platform. Once a cardholder registers their card they can enable their Auto Top-up facility via the easy-to-use sQuid customer portal. Cardholders can top-up online and their top-up will then be available to collect at ACT’s retail terminals (called the Retail POST®), conveniently located at various post offices, universities and travel centres. With Auto Top-up, the cardholder never runs out of credit, as their GoCymru card is automatically topped-up from their bank account whenever the balance falls below £8.
 

Gary Watts, ACT CEO added, “The Welsh Government, ACT, sQuid and our delivery partners have worked together to enable this technology to be a first of its kind in Wales, which is exciting. Not only is the ITSO Auto Top-up technology first in Wales, but this National initiative is a first of its type in the UK. By harnessing sQuid's FSA authorised payments network we have been able to provide a low cost and flexible service to customers. The future of the GoCymru PAYG programme is very exciting and is already evolving as we introduce new retail channels, NFC smartphone capabilities and new collection channels, all aimed at delivering our customer’s vision and desired goals.”
 

Referring to the GoCymru initiative, Viv Collins, the Welsh Government Smart Card Project Manager said, “This is a challenging, multi-stakeholder implementation using the very latest in smart ticketing and payments technologies. This is a very exciting move forward for smart ticketing in Wales. Cardiff Bus and Newport Transport have already demonstrated considerable success with the introduction of their commercial smartcards and we want to see that success replicated throughout the country.” She continues, “Public transport users like smartcards as they are more convenient than cash. They also play a big part in encouraging more people to use our buses, thereby reducing congestion and helping the environment.”

By bringing together and integrating ACT's ITSO transit solutions and sQuid's next generation payments platform, Smart Transactions Group is uniquely positioned to bring end-to-end Pay As You Go solutions to the UK transport network, delivered by ACT's market-leading team. 
 

To learn more about the pilot scheme go to http://www.go-cymru.info/

'Oyster' is a trade mark of Transport for London

Smart Transactions Group subsidiary ACT has secured a seven year contract with Atos for the provision of products and services to support the Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) Smart Ticketing programme.

Atos is the prime contractor responsible for delivering the TfGM Smart Ticketing programme and ACT will provide the ITSO transaction processing and Retail POST systems which will underpin the new TfGM smart ticketing scheme.

The scheme is expected to make travel easier and better value for passengers in the Greater Manchester area each year. Within two years, Metrolink passengers could be using e-tickets and contactless bank cards to travel on the tram network. In future, they will be able to preload a card with travel credit either online, at Travelshops or through electronic ticket machines, and use the one card as their ticket on the bus, train or tram – or any combination of the three.

The first stage will cover the Metrolink network, and TfGM’s park and ride sites and cycle hubs, with options for buses and then rail to be targeted in subsequent stages as part of TfGM’s strategy. The scheme will be fully ITSO compliant and will also support contactless EMV payments on Metrolink.

Gary Watts, ACT CEO commented, “We are delighted to be selected to work on this ground breaking smart ticketing project. We already provide central ticketing systems to TfGM and this new project with Atos will see these extended and enhanced to deliver the future in smart ticketing across all modes of travel. Through this project we shall see our retail systems widely deployed to enable accessible ticket purchase and top-up via Travelshops throughout Greater Manchester.”

Initially, the new-style virtual tickets and e-purses will be brought in on Greater Manchester’s trams, which are owned by TfGM, and then, in later phases on buses and trains once agreements have been reached with operators.

Atos will design, build and manage the hosted service to run the scheme as well as deploy and manage an estate of ticket sales and validation devices provided by a number of suppliers but also including its own handheld ticket machine, webTIS retail product and ticket vending machines.

Independent Intersport retailers have launched a brand new customer loyalty scheme in the UK, using Smart Transactions Group subsidiary ACT’s GEL loyalty platform.

15 independent Intersport UK retailers have joined together to offer their customers rewards and special offers after running a basic loyalty scheme for a number of years. This system lacked the necessary functionality to maximise the return on a branded loyalty programme.

After a lengthy search, ACT was selected as a proven supplier of multi-retailer rewards systems, with the mailing and campaign management capability to secure the financial returns sought by the Intersport retailers. GEL by ACT, an easy-to-manage incentive and reward system, offered the versatile, cost effective solution needed to maximise customer engagement for Intersport.

Tom Foley, General Manager, Intersport HQ commented, “The independent retailers in the Intersport franchise needed access to a feature-rich loyalty system that could help drive repeat sales and create a stronger link with their customers. The GEL system from ACT was selected for its proven capabilities in multiple retailer operations; providing an easy-to-use system to drive targeted, personalised customer rewards.”

Integrating the system with the retailers’ existing EPOS infrastructures kept costs down and ensured a speedy implementation, with no downtime or loss of service. The system already supports nearly 19,000 card holders, but is fully scalable to allow additional Intersport franchisees to join at any time.

Real-time access to GEL’s full reporting suite provides Intersport retailers with powerful campaign analysis and flexible scheme management. The independent retailers’ brands are maintained under the corporate umbrella of Intersport, providing economies of scale without sacrificing their independent brands.

Gary Watts, CEO, ACT advised, “The Intersport Reward Club card plays a key role in the way the retailers communicate with their customers as they grow and develop their businesses. GEL’s unique reporting and campaign module delivers the customer insight, campaign management and evaluation, essential for achieving greater customer value. We look forward to working with Intersport retailers to ensure they receive maximum benefits from their loyalty card scheme.” 

End.

ACT, the Smart Transactions Group subsidiary specialising in the transport and tourism sectors, today, unveiled its Android mobile app capable of reading and displaying the contents of any ITSO-based transport ticketing smartcard.
 
The Android app enables the display of ITSO smart card-based ticket content, paving the way for a smartphone-based inspection system, low cost merchant terminals and customer self-service.
 
ITSO, the UK’s national standard for enabling integrated and interoperable smart ticketing, is being rolled-out by all major transport operators, such as Go-Ahead, First, Arriva and National Express, plus transit authorities, including Transport for Greater Manchester, Merseytravel, Wales, Transport Scotland, Leicestershire and Cheshire.
 
"ACT’s mTicketing services can now connect passengers’ mobile phones to their travel and payment smartcards. This latest innovation harnesses the power of NFC-enabled smartphones to create a unique phone-based inspection solution and a passenger self-service mobile platform. Now passengers and inspectors can simply check what’s on a smartcard without the need for expensive specialist hardware. Soon users will be able to use an app to buy and receive a wide variety of travel and tourism tickets or to top-up their smartcard credit using their phone.” said Gary Watts, CEO of ACT.

Smart Transactions Group is also working on mobile payment apps for its sQuid eMoney platform.

Rent arrears, anti-social behaviour and damage to housing stock are just some of the problems faced by the UK’s 1,200 housing associations.

One of the ways housing associations are trying to tackle these issues is by improving tenant engagement. And this is just what Guinness Hermitage, which manages 15,000 homes in the South and West of England, aims to do with the help of ACT’s incentive and reward solution.

Guinness Hermitage had been looking for a company that could provide a proven and flexible loyalty solution to implement their “Guinness Together” tenant incentive scheme. Crucially, they needed a company that could develop a system that met the specific needs of housing associations.

“One of the biggest challenges social housing providers face is the need to reduce the costs of managing rent arrears, re-lets, and tackling anti-social behaviour,” said David Hall, Director of Service Improvement at Guinness Hermitage. “We see Guinness Together as one of various ways we can tackle this problem, and at the same time build positive relationships with our residents.”

When they approached ACT to help them develop their tenant incentive scheme, ACT put their technical expertise in creating loyalty and incentive schemes to work; to help tackle a mounting challenge for housing associations.

“Run successfully, these schemes bring many benefits,” said David. “Not least the motivational effect they have on staff by reducing the negative aspects of their work, and also serving as a marketing tool to introduce best practice in customer service.”

Tenant incentives schemes provide a way of proactively managing issues, such as rent payment, in a positive way. In particular, Guinness Hermitage wanted to make sure that responsible residents are recognised and rewarded for looking after their homes and contributing to their local communities.

In return for complying with their tenancy agreement, paying rent on time, maintaining their home and garden, and engaging with Guinness Hermitage through various resident panels, residents earn reward points.

Points can be redeemed against a range of appealing rewards, from grass cutting and handyman services, to high street vouchers. Cash benefits are also offered for a range of community based initiatives. The ethos of the scheme is all about creating positive community involvement.

Gary Watts, ACT, CEO commented,” Developing ACT’s loyalty technology to support this initiative was a rewarding challenge. Housing associations have a tough job but ACT’s Tenant Incentive Platform provides the tools they need to help bring about positive change in communities all over the UK.”

Transport Scotland’s challenging remit is to develop and deliver an efficient, effective and sustainable transport infrastructure and services for Scotland. A key part of this role is the management and operation of the country wide concessionary travel scheme which provides free or discounted travel on public transport for younger, older and disabled people.

In April 2011, following an extensive public procurement exercise, Transport Scotland selected specialist ticketing systems provider Applied Card Technologies Limited (ACT) to implement its next generation ITSO HOPS ticketing transaction service.

The HOPS service by ACT was selected to replace the incumbent ticketing transaction system. This service delivers benefits such as greater stability, a more secure environment, enhanced performance and fraud prevention measures, together with innovative ticketing features required to support Transport Scotland’s progressive ticketing strategy. With around 260 bus operators in Scotland running over 7,100 buses, this is the largest concessionary scheme of its kind in the UK.

ACT’s next generation intelligent ticketing solutions lead the way for smart ticketing schemes all over the UK. Through its continued commitment to invest in research and development for its clients, ACT solutions continue to advance smart ticketing capabilities.

“Transport Scotland’s Head of Concessionary Travel & Integrated Ticketing, Gordon Hanning, added, “This was, without question, a very challenging IT project. We needed a proven supplier with the necessary technical depth and governance approach to deliver this national public sector project. We are very pleased with ACTs performance in delivering this project during the past 12 months, having successfully established their HOPS service and migrated all 260 bus operators, 80 back offices and 7,100 ticket machines over to the new ACT HOPS.

We now have the platform and management tools to meet our needs not only for today in terms of managing concession fraud, but also our ambitious plans for the future around smart ticketing.  By establishing our Quality Centre at ACT’s dedicated tests suites, we have created a fully operating test environment to ensure the ongoing success of our ticketing strategy. We look forward to working with ACT to evolve the scheme over the coming years.”

Gary Watts, CEO, ACT commented, “Transport Scotland have actively pursued an innovative smart ticketing strategy and have been a key influencing member of the ITSO ticketing community. We were naturally delighted to move Transport Scotland to our next generation ticketing platform and are pleased with how smoothly the transition and roll out has gone. Our R&D commitment continues to challenge and evolve smart ticketing delivery and we are very excited about working with Transport Scotland to support their vision for Scotland’s transport infrastructure.”

Dundee, 1 December 2011

Barrhead Travel, Scotland’s leading travel agency, today announced the launch of a next generation rewards smartcard, based on sQuid’s world-leading technology – the first of its kind in the UK travel industry. The card will offer a 5% cashback reward for any travel booking made, with additional discounts offered to existing sQuid account holders.

With 32 stores across Scotland, the scheme will initially be piloted in Barrhead Travel’s Dundee store with a view to rolling it out across other branches in the near future.

The contactless smartcard-based scheme will be operated by sQuid, the digital payments network, which already provides a number of smartcard services in Dundee, working with the National Entitlement Card (NEC), local retailers, colleges, schools and very soon with National Express Dundee.

Loyalty cards cost £5, but give back £10 to the customer’s loyalty purse once registered online with sQuid. Cardholders are then rewarded with 5% of the booking value of all overseas holidays, which is credited to the customer’s card loyalty purse and can be redeemed against future bookings.
Mark Brock, Director, Barrhead Travel, said, “Despite difficult economic conditions, our business continues to enjoy success, thanks to the great products and services we provide to our customers. Our innovative smartcard-based rewards programme is another way of giving a little extra back, while acknowledging and maintaining a great relationship with our clients. sQuid’s excellent product is a great fit for our business”.

Adam Smith, sQuid CEO, added “Loyalty and rewards schemes are now a vital part of creating competitive advantage in retail and we are delighted to be working with Scotland’s number 1 travel agency to prove that sQuid is not only the UK’s leading next generation payments system, but a great rewards platform too.”
 
squidcard.com/barrhead

Chippenham, 25th November 2011

Under-Secretary of State for Transport, Norman Baker MP, has launched Southern Railway’s new smartcard pilot scheme. The rechargeable ITSO compliant smart card called “the key” provides an alternative to paper tickets and makes buying tickets and travelling easier and more convenient for passengers.

As well as providing the central customer and card management (CMS) back-office systems, allowing Southern Rail to manage its customers’ lifecycle, ACT provides the central ticket transaction and security system called the HOPS www.weareact.com/products/hops/  which transacts all journey transactions. ACT also managed the integration of multiple complex interfaces with devices such as rail gates, ticketing portals and station validators. As the ITSO design authority on many successful projects, ACT was able to draw on its vast ITSO experience to deliver smart ticketing capability to Southern Rail.

The pilot is taking place at all rail stations between Brighton and Seaford where ACT’s Retail POST® www.weareact.com/products/retail-post/  software has been installed on Ticket Vending Machine (TVM) station hardware to support the smart card initiative. Around 100 passengers and railway staff are piloting the scheme but it will be offered to more passengers at the end of the three-month trial.

Speaking at the launch, Mr Baker commented, “Smart ticketing is already beginning to make a positive impact across the country, and now it is giving passengers the confidence to get out of their cars and onto public transport. I am sure the same can be true for rail travel in Sussex.”

“My vision is of a transport system where we can enjoy seamless travel on one smartcard. I will be following the progress of this trial closely.”

‘The key’ was first conceived by Southern’s parent company, the Go-Ahead Group and has been successfully rolled out by a number of Go-Ahead companies www.weareact.com/case-studies/london-midland/

Adam Phayer, Southern’s Smartcard Programme Manager advises “Over the past 12 months we have worked well with ACT to deliver this innovation for our customers, the feedback and results have been very positive allowing the scheme to be extended in the future. As with any large and ground breaking IT project, there have been numerous challenges along the way. As a result we made a clear decision to work with strong suppliers such as ACT that possess in-depth transaction processing capability coupled with smart ticketing expertise that can support our business long-term.”

Go-Ahead recently won the Excellence in Technology category for the key, at the National Rail Awards and has an ambitious smart card deployment plan. Extending the key to Southern brings Go-Ahead a step further in their plans to give passengers the freedom to use the key across the group’s transport services.

Commenting on the pilot, Gary Watts, ACT Chief Executive said, “This has been yet another exciting development for the Go Ahead Group. ACT has successfully delivered smart ticketing capability to a number of Go Ahead bus and rail companies. The introduction of products such as the CMS and Retail POST demonstrates our continued commitment to innovation and creating solutions that meet customer requirements”
 

Nairobi, Kenya, November 2011

SOS Children’s Villages Kenya has launched a sQuid smartcard-based service to help villagers affected by drought and famine to obtain food directly from local shops.

The pilot programme has launched in the northern Kenyan town of Marsabit, and is operated by sQuid and its local partner Paystream, a specialist in merchant payment terminal installation and management.

The SOS Children’s Villages Kenya scheme has been described as a breakthrough in efficient aid fund distribution and management. It is the result of collaboration with SOS Kenya, community elders, Government authorities and shop owners. 2,000 families are involved in this programme, where beneficiaries receive a sQuid smartcard with its unique electronic purse. SOS Kenya, based in Nairobi, instructs payments to each cardholder in Marsabit, and the sQuid system delivers the electronic value to each card, which can then be used in the local store – collecting the unique top-up and allowing the cardholder to make contactless purchases of food directly at the participating merchant.

Adam Smith, sQuid CEO, said, “until now, delivering financial aid to individuals has been fraught with security problems, with value going astray before its get to the person that really needs help. Our contactless cards are easy to use, and strike the right balance between simplicity and security. We make sure that electronic value is delivered to individual cardholders, and the merchants in the programme receive settlement directly from the aid organisation. sQuid’s platform allows all this to happen with complete transparency and at a low cost to the aid organisation, too. We hope to be able to extend the reach of the programme across the region, and to work with other Government agencies and NGOs alike.”

Anthony Githui from SOS Children’s Villages Kenya added, “This new aid distribution scheme has been a real breakthrough for the organization, as we can now ensure that funds reach the right people when and where then need it. We are sure the trial will be a success as we would like to roll this out further afield”.

Throughout East Africa, SOS Kenya continues to respond to drought and famine by providing health services, food and water to the hungry in villages and internally displaced persons (IDP) camps throughout Somalia, and to refugees in Kenya and Ethiopia.  In Marsabit, Kenya, where the sQuid smart card program is being piloted as a new method of distributing aid, SOS Kenya has educated the local community about how the system works, the value that each card holds, and the kind of food eligible to purchase from participating stores.

Deployment is managed with Paystream, the terminal and payments specialist, based in Nairobi. Sam Ndegwa, CEO of Paystream added that ‘Paystream has been a catalyst, bringing this trial together. We wanted to find a safe, reliable card based solution to help get the food aid to the right people, and we have met all expectations with the success of the trial so far”.

Bolton Council leads the way this week with the launch of the UK’s first market-based loyalty smart card.

Bolton Market plays a crucial role in the success of Bolton town centre and draws thousands of people in every year from near and far.

The launch of the loyalty card scheme is one of the ways in which the council aims to secure the future of the market in years to come – by providing a fresh way for customers to engage with traders and to be rewarded for their loyalty.

Employing the latest contactless smart card technology and electronic loyalty from sQuid, the pilot scheme is being trialled for six months with 10 of the market traders.

Local celebrity chef Aazam Ahmad will help to launch the scheme on Tuesday, November 22 and will be on hand to give a cookery demonstration from 11.30am-12.30pm using some of the local produce at Bolton Market.

With a generous reward programme of 10% cashback each time a card-holder purchases from a participating trader, the plan is to extend the scheme to all of the market traders when the pilot has been assessed.

Cards can be registered online, and when they register account holders can also opt to be notified about special offers and deals from Bolton Market and the traders taking part.

Councillor Akthar Zaman Bolton Council’s Executive Member for Environmental Services commented: “We believe that this is the first scheme of its kind in the country and one that incentivises local people to support local producers and businesses.

“This initiative continues to demonstrate the Council’s commitment to Bolton Market and I am aware that the outcomes from the trial are eagerly anticipated by the industry as a whole”

sQuid already operates a number of payment and loyalty schemes in Bolton, with the Council, University, College and Arriva buses involved, along with local retailers.

Bede Feltham, Marketing Director at sQuid added: “It’s great to see another application of sQuid in Bolton and we’re glad to be part of this loyalty-based initiative at Bolton Market. sQuid’s unique integrated payments and loyalty network is a great way to help local retailers build valuable relationships with their customers. We look forward to seeing this grow.”

Go-Ahead Group was awarded an “Excellence in Technology” award at the National Transport Event in London. The award highlights new technology advances with Go-Ahead’s smartcard called ‘the key’, based on ACT's large scale transaction management and operational services that underpin Go-Ahead's smart ticketing scheme. This has been successfully introduced across the company’s bus and rail operations, and serves as a benchmark for other transport operators.

ACT - Smart Transactions Group's smart ticketing subsidiary - delivered the latest in digital back office ticketing systems and services to the Go-Ahead Group, including the introduction of the first ITSO compliant EPOS system, called Retail POST®.

Retail POST® by ACT enables bus depots, travel centres and retail outlets, such as Debenhams in Oxford and Plymouth, the opportunity to provide smartcard customers with the ability to top-up their travel products and/or purchase new travel products in-store. Retail POST® integrates effortlessly with ACT's back office travel system (HOPS) and its customer management system (CMS). By combining these leading-edge ACT technologies Go-Ahead Group benefits from increased efficiencies and enhanced management information, including price change updates, reporting services and journey transaction information.

HOPS by ACT, also used by Go-Ahead Group, is another essential part of the solution, providing the central transaction processing and management of the ITSO-based smart tickets used in the scheme. HOPS by ACT is fully ITSO compliant and already processes over 2.5 million transactions a day, but is growing fast as more and more bus operators adopt ACT smart card and ticketing solutions. HOPS by ACT currently powers the majority of the ITSO ticketing in the UK.

Go-Ahead's full solution is completed with ACT's Customer Management Service (CMS) which integrates seamlessly into the HOPS, Retail POST® and ACT retail ticketing web portals. The CMS helps Go-Ahead Group manage all its ITSO smart ticket product complexities, customer registration and also provides a view of all customer journeys.

Gary Watts, ACT Chief Executive said "Congratulations to Go-Ahead Group on this milestone achievement. I am very proud to know that our technology, alongside Go-Ahead technology strategies, has been acknowledged as the best in its class. This is proof that our technology delivers enhanced efficiencies and greater value across our customers' businesses.”

David Lynch, Group Technology & Procurement Director of Go-Ahead commented “Over the past 12 months we have developed a tremendous working partnership with ACT. ACT pioneers technology and service delivery, and as such assisted us in achieving such a prestigious technology award. The introduction of products such as the CMS and Retail POST demonstrates what this forward-thinking company is capable of. Our collective innovations continue so this is only the beginning.”

 
West Cheshire College, in the north west of England, is providing all its students with an innovative all-in-one contactless sQuid card that combines a cashless transaction card, an ID card, a shop and leisure discount card and a pay-as-you-go travel card.

The new sQuid card has been developed in partnership between sQuid, the eMoney payments network, Cheshire West and Chester and Ellesmere Port’s Development Boards.

Ian Rimmington, Vice Principal of West Cheshire College, said: “It is a very exciting time for our students - as well as moving into our new campus buildings, we can now provide everybody with a multi-functioning smart card.

“The new smart cards combine secure and convenient sQuid cashless payments throughout both our campuses, Cheshire Travelcard functionality for use on seven local bus operators, college photo ID, printing and library identification, plus discounts in over 300 local businesses through the council’s Charisma scheme.”

Chris Styles, Operations Director at sQuid, who has been closely involved in the project, explained: “The sQuid card is a safe alternative to carrying cash and loose change for students. They’ll be able to use their card throughout the College and for travel, plus they’ll have the benefit of being able to track their spending online - so it’s a great way of budgeting.”

In addition to using the card in College, the card will also give students access to ‘Charisma’ discounts at over 300 businesses in the region.

Developed by Cheshire West and Chester Council, the Charisma scheme will enable students to receive discounts at restaurants, leisure facilities, hair and beauty salons as well as days out.

Both College campuses have undergone a complete transformation as part of the College’s Building a Difference project, with a new Technologies Campus that opened in Chester in March 2011 and a Creative and Service Industries Campus in Ellesmere Port that opened last month (September 2011).

Every transaction counts, especially when managing school children’s lunch payments, where the rapid uptake in school cashless payments has driven a meteoric rise in the number of transactions processed each month by sQuid®, the pre-pay, contactless e-money network.

Today, sQuid, owned by Smart Transactions Group, has revealed that it processed more than one million payment transactions during September 2011, a 900% increase year-on-year, confirming the company's stellar growth.

“Our growth this year has been rapid, reflecting the relevance and appeal of our simple-to-use electronic money service to our various customers,” says Adam Smith, sQuid’s Chief Executive. “In addition to retail, transit and loyalty payments, sQuid is finding the mark in education and business campuses, where we expect to see further substantial growth.”

With sQuid account holders able to pay using contactless smart cards, online and using biometric ID, sQuid is expected to process 10 million transactions by the end of 2011, making it the largest independent payments network in the UK.

Peter Matthews, Smart Transaction Group board member and co-founder of sQuid added “With sQuid’s monthly transaction volume now above 1m and our transit business, ACT, processing more than 2.5m transit transactions per day, we are well on the way to becoming the UK’s favourite smart transactions company. Soon scheme operators will be able to add sQuid wallets on transit cards to offer a simple Pay as You Go smartcard experience, which we are confident will prove popular.”

sQuid electronic money is being used in all sorts of ways at schools and universities, for bus journeys, in retail stores and for loyalty. “sQuid is also pioneering new developments including payments for vending, parking, more online services and of course making payments via mobile phones” adds Adam Smith, “We expect to announce several more exciting developments over the coming months”.

sQuid® is a registered trade mark of Smart Transactions Group Ltd. All rights reserved.

 

Smart Transactions Group company, ACT, today announced that it has been ranked 49th in the Sunday Times 2011 Microsoft Tech Track 100 league table.  In its 9th year of business, ACT has grown steadily and is now recognised as one of the fastest growing private technology companies in the UK, by sales growth over a three year period. In April 2011, ACT merged with sQuidcard Ltd to create Smart Transactions Group, a UK leader in smart payments, ticketing and rewards.

Prior to the Smart Transactions merger, ACT, led by CEO Gary Watts and Technical Director Richard Buckley, had grown its sales from £1.3m in 2007 to £5.3m in 2010 with staff of 73 people.

Gary Watts commented “Our aim is to create technology solutions that help people make the most of their work, leisure and travel time, by connecting them with the services they need in everyday life. This award is a tribute to the hard work and innovative spirit fostered by ACT staff. “
 
The top 100 companies increased sales by an average of 74% a year over the last three years to a total of £3.1bn. They almost tripled their combined workforce to 13,500 over the same period.

Two innovative UK start-ups responsible for millions of contactless tickets and payments per month have joined forces to create a new European leader in smart transactions.

Solutions provider for transit and tourism, Applied Card Technologies (ACT), and digital payments company sQuid have joined forces under a new corporate umbrella, Smart Transactions Group, in a deal valued at $87 million (£53.3 million).

Both companies currently operate contactless smart card-based networks, and now share plans to launch NFC and mobile phone-based solutions in the near future. ACT has specialised in visitor destination management systems, retail reward programmes and ITSO transit solutions for trains, trams and buses, while sQuid has focussed on its disruptive, low cost pre-pay eMoney platform for the education and retail sectors. Together, as Smart Transactions Group they become the unrivalled leader in smart payments, ticketing and rewards with more than 500,000 payments and 50 million transit transactions handled by the combined business every month.

Peter Matthews, Smart Transactions Group spokesperson, commented “At a time when considerable industry and consumer interest surrounds new start-ups and innovative payment platforms, ACT and sQuid have already achieved significant traction with numerous commercial deployments of their highly innovative and scalable platforms, used every day by millions of consumers. By bringing these two proven innovators together we have created a powerful new force in smart payments and ticketing.”

Smart Transactions Group will have pro-forma 2011 revenues of approximately $15 million (£9.5 million) and its payments revenue, measured on a Total Payment Value (TPV) basis, is growing at a significant double digit monthly rate, while transit transactions are also expected to grow 50% in 2011.

Gary Watts, ACT CEO, said "We have been at the forefront of smart ticketing systems and services for nearly a decade, with ACT now operating in many of the world’s favourite destinations. By delivering the majority of ITSO back office transit platforms in the UK, we have built a strong technology and financial base to deliver our growth plans. The formation of Smart Transactions Group allows us to accelerate our plans to deliver 'pay as you go’ travel solutions across next generation technology and media."

“Smart Transactions Group is delivering real transactions across the UK and beyond and is already profitable. The new Group services around 3.5 million consumers each day in the UK, and we are already expanding internationally,” commented Adam Smith, CEO of sQuid ”our combined group is now one of the most dynamic in this burgeoning sector, building on the pioneering technologies developed by both companies.”

Watts and Smith are joined on the Smart Transactions Group board by ACT founder Duncan McNeil, Nucleus founder Peter Matthews and ex-senior UBS banker John Holland. Joint initiatives include rolling out pre-pay travel purses, integrating transit and eMoney cards and launching NFC and mobile phone-based payments and ticketing, bypassing incumbent technology solutions that rely on existing expensive and restrictive networks.

The Group aims to accelerate UK expansion plans as well as launch small value payment and ticketing services in a number of emerging and fast-growing markets.

End