Resekortet i Sverige AB – the co-ordinator for seamless travel in the future
With the Travel Card, it will be possible to travel by public transport across county boundaries on one and the same card. Through a co-ordinated system of payment, the Travel Card will thus help to make it easier and more convenient to travel by public transport in Sweden. Passengers will be able to use the card as a means of payment for journeys made with public transport authorities and operators other than those who issued the card. It will also be possible to store season tickets or other types of ticket on the card, and to load the card with money in a Travel Purse that can be used to buy tickets.
Resekortet i Sverige does not issue any cards of its own. Instead, passengers will be able to travel all over the country on their own local card, which is a contactless form of smart card. A card of this type is at present being developed in Sweden and Denmark. In order to be able to use the card across county boundaries, the fare management systems used by different players must be able to function together and to communicate. Consequently, the players have agreed to adopt a common standard for the card technology. The technical specifications are provided by Resekortet i Norden AB. The development of the Travel Card is being co-ordinated in Sweden through Resekortet i Sverige AB and in Denmark through Rejsekort A/S.
The role of Resekortet i Sverige is to:
• administer and develop a Travel Card standard for local and regional journeys,
• develop and follow up Travel Card co-operation, and
• serve as a forum for and to drive the development of integrated and interoperable payment systems
for users of the Travel Card standard, i.e. players with responsibility for local and regional public transport.
At present there are five different suppliers who develop and supply ticket and fare management systems in Sweden, based on Resekortet’s technical specification. This can be compared with Denmark, where it has been decided to have one common ticket and fare management system that covers the whole country and only one supplier, with Rejsekort A/S as the issuer.
Most of Sweden’s public transport authorities and traffic operators are involved in Travel Card co-operation, in other words in implementing payment systems based on the common technology, but have reached different stages of development.
The Travel Card is financed by fees paid by the participating players.