Simon Kirby – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Simon Kirby on 2014-04-09.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what discussions he has had with Transport for London (TfL) about the use of other smart ticket systems in the TfL area; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Hammond

Department for Transport officials work regularly with Transport for London (TfL) both on the national strategy for smart and integrated ticketing and on implementation in and around London. Cooperation with TfL is integral to any smart ticketing system which includes the London area, in order to ensure full integration of systems and a positive passenger experience.

TfL will shortly have completed the delivery of the “ITSO on Prestige” project, specified and funded by the Department, which has equipped the capital with readers that can now accept the national open standard for transport ticketing (ITSO) as well as contactless bank cards. We have been working closely with them to make the most of this investment, including accepting Southern’s “The Key” card which was successfully launched at Victoria by my Noble Friend the Minister of State for Transport, Baroness Kramer, last year. Southern is also working closely with us and TfL to roll out more products progressively as the capability becomes available.

TfL is also a key delivery partner for the South East Flexible Ticketing programme (SEFT) and has been a signatory to the Memorandum of Understanding and a member of the Programme Board since the beginning. Significant work continues to be undertaken with them in order to ensure that the SEFT scheme will interoperate properly with their existing infrastructure in the London area.