Group launched in the UK Midlands to develop national smart ticketing system

West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) has announced that a smart ticketing group has been launched to develop a national tap and cap fare system.

The Integrated Ticketing Advisory Forum (ITAF) will be chaired by sub-national transport body Midlands Connect. It will provide an opportunity for Midlands local transport authorities and other sub-national transport bodies to share the work that they are doing to make a single multi-operator smart ticketing solution possible.

The group will meet four times per year, with the first meeting having happened on 19 January 2024.

Midlands Connect, along with Transport for West Midlands (TfWM), Project Coral (the bus operators’ group) and the Department for Transport (DfT) are working together on a ticketing solution that will make multimodal travel cheaper and easier for individuals that use their smartphone or contactless bank card, capping payments at a daily or weekly limit.

The focus of this work is on bus and tram travel; making it easier to pay for journeys when using a number of different operators.

Although developed in the Midlands, this is to be offered as a national solution for all of England, outside of London.

Matt Lewis, Technical Director – Swift at Transport for West Midlands, said: “Simplifying payment for bus travel is an important part of encouraging more people to use bus services. 

“This national project will see the introduction of a ‘tap and go’ solution for customers using their bank card on regional bus services where, irrespective of which bus operators they use, they will get best value fare – this will finally allow us to bring the benefits to our bus passengers, which public transport users in London have enjoyed for more than a decade.

“The creation of the ITAF will ensure that local transport authorities are aligned in their thinking as we work in partnership with bus operators as we jointly deliver this exciting project,” he concluded.

Bharat Pathania, Head of New Technologies at Midlands Connect, said: “This forum is an exciting opportunity for us to work collaboratively with transport authorities. Transport users are long overdue a simplified tap-and-cap solution, and this will really streamline the work that we’re doing. The extra flexibility and ease of smart ticketing will help to attract more people to public transport and create a more efficient and modern offer.”