Nevis Technologies has announced that it has issued more than 100,000 Bramble smartcards to travelers of the Glasgow Subway, which are designed to securely store tickets and travel data for pay-as-you-go journeys. A joint venture between Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT), Scotland’s largest regional transport partnership, and Ecebs, a leader in smart technology for transportation recently acquired by Rambus, Nevis Technologies was formed to deliver secure, integrated smart ticketing to Scotland.
“The future of transport will rely more on smart integrated ticketing as our customers demand more convenience and ease of travel,” said Eric Stewart, SPT assistant chief executive. “Public transport operators are looking to work together to ensure journeys become as easy and simple as possible for passengers, and increasing the adoption of smart technology is key to achieving this.”
The Bramble smartcard is designed for use across multiple transportation systems and is compliant with the UK interoperable open standard known as ITSO. It replaces paper tickets and tokens to enable public transportation systems to offer convenience and ease-of-travel to their passengers. The smart ticketing system includes a back office Host Operating or Processor System (HOPS) delivered by Ecebs, card management (CMS) and Bramble smartcards.
“Our vision is to extend the use of ‘Bramble’ across multiple operators and multiple modes of transport,” said David Braddock, director of Nevis Technologies. “These cards are particularly suited for this and an e-purse for pay-as-you-go travel.”
The Nevis Technologies system was introduced on the Glasgow Subway in 2013 as part of the £300m modernization programme in advance of the Commonwealth Games in 2014. In 2015, Nevis Technologies was appointed by Dutch train operator Abellio to provide the smart ticketing system across the ScotRail franchise. Currently, more than 93 million passenger journeys are taken a year on ScotRail services and some 13 million passenger journeys were taken on the Glasgow Subway in 2014 and 2015.
