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SCIENCE & TECH
Aug 17, 2017 / 10:20

E-ticket: Simplifying access to public transport

Nguyen Tung - Ngoc Hai

Hanoi transport Department and Hanoi Transportation Corporation have proposed to the Hanoi People’s Committee on an e-ticket pilot project for Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) Route No.1 (Kim Ma station to Yen Nghia station), with a view to be introduced on all the buses in 2018 and then other means of public transport.

Convenient for passengers

E-ticket can be used for all kind of public transports, including bus, BRT, monorail and urban railways. As such, passengers will be given a smartcard and personal account on the public transport system for money deposit. Whenever a passenger goes on bus or urban railway, they only need to scan the e ticket, for which the money will be automatically deducted. So passenger do not have to use cash or buy various tickets for different kind of public transports. When the account is out of money, passenger can go to any transaction point or stations for money deposit.
 
BRT at Vu Ngoc Phan waiting station.
BRT at Vu Ngoc Phan waiting station.
The Director of Hanoi Public Transport Management and operation center Nguyen Hoang Hai said, in the future, the personal account can be integrated into bank account, or even in the smartphone, so people would not need any card. “This e ticket uses technology called near-field communication (NFC), so passenger only need to put the e ticket near the scan device at stations for auto detection without having to do anything else, so that passenger is completely at ease”. With the amount of passengers of 13,000 per day, BRT 01 will need approx. 4,000-6,000 e ticket, including the day and month ticket. It is expected that by 2018, the e ticket will be introduced on all the subsidized buses in Hanoi” – Mr. Hai shared.

According to Director of Hanoi Transport Department Vu Van Vien, in the next September or October, Hanoi will implement the e-ticket pilot project for BRT route No.1. Based on this result, the joint venture of Viettel – Transerco will finalize the mechanism and technological solutions to be used on all the buses and other means of public transport in Hanoi.

Expecting difficulties

In order for e ticket to be put into use, it is necessary to develop 4 key components, including: ticket, scan device, administrative center, transaction monitoring and operational software. Mr. Hai said, one of the most concern at present is unable to verify the quality of devices. With this being said, devices are required to be durable and stable for high frequent use in an open environment. “It is the reason for piloting, for which the result will be used to develop specific plan, as well as to verify the durability of the devices” – Mr. Hai shared.

It is complicated to maintain an open system which are fully integrated with different kinds of services and technologies from bus, BRT to urban railway. Moreover, the IT infrastructure must ensure its safety, stability and security. According to transport expert Nguyen Manh Thang, it is inevitable problems will occur as we are inexperienced in e ticket application.  Besides technology, we also need qualified personnel to operate the system.

At present, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is committed to handover to Hanoi e ticket technology, including guidelines, technical specification of the network and requirements for training human resources.

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