Public transport operator Stagecoach Group has launched a trial of NFC bus tickets in partnership with Everything Everywhere. It’s enabling some customers on the Stagecoach bus network in Cambridgeshire to use their Orange ‘Quick Tap’ NFC phones as tickets. The scheme uses the Department of Transport’s preferred ITSO (Integrated Transport Smartcard Organisation) ticketing technology and is described as the UK’s first Government-standard commercial deployment of mobile contactless transport ticketing.
Gerry McQuade, Chief Marketing Officer at Everything Everywhere, said “We’ve already started a new movement in the way we make payments and receive retail rewards on the high street, so this really is the next step – providing customers with additional simplicity and convenience to help improve their public transport experience. As Britain’s biggest communication company, we’re proud to be working with Stagecoach to help bring public transport ticketing into the 21st century and start a trend towards a future where ultimately the traditional paper and card tickets of today will eventually become a thing of the past”.