What is ITSO?
ITSO is a non-profit sharing membership organisation, whose objectives are to maintain and develop the ITSO Specification, operate and manage an interoperable smart media environment, and facilitate and support development of interoperable smart ticketing schemes that comply with the ITSO Specification. Supported by the Department for Transport (DfT) and with members that include bus operators, train companies, suppliers to the industry and local authorities, ITSO aims to revolutionise the use of smartcards in transport.
Parkeon & ITSO
Parkeon (formerly Wayfarer Transit Systems) has been involved with ITSO for over ten years. Consequently Parkeon have made an extensive investment in ITSO from the outset, where Parkeon’s Director of Technology, David Ellis sits on the ITSO Board representing the supplier sector. Additionally, our commitment goes beyond Board Membership, as several of our own Technical Design Authorities actively participate in ITSO User Groups.
Wayfarer’s ITSO Development Program has been running for many years and we are proud to be the supplier of the first ever practical on-bus ITSO installation in respect of the Blazefield NoWcard Trial in 2004. This trial paved the way to achieving ITSO compliance on the Wayfarer 150 ETM in 2005 – an industry first.
Today, Parkeon sets the standard for ITSO certification. In 2009 the Wayfarer 200 ticket technology achieved full compliance to the ITSO standard, building on the accreditation already held for the Wayfarer 150.
Bus operators in Scotland and across the West Midlands are among the first to benefit from the ITSO certification gained by the Wayfarer 200.
Wayfarer 150 ETM ITSO CertificateWayfarer ticket machines and card readers, coupled with data transfer systems and back-office functionality, remain at the forefront of ITSO progress. The technology has proven its worth in millions of ITSO transactions every month and is playing a key role in the implementation of the National Concessionary Travel Scheme in England and similar programmes in Scotland and Wales.
In fact, Parkeon is the only on-bus ETM supplier contracted in every ITSO scheme in the UK, including operators in West Midlands, Scotland, Cheshire, Nottinghamshire, and across Wales.
Parkeon looks forward to leading the way in ticketing applications and in ITSO Certified smartcard schemes through the implementation of ITSO in the UK.
ITSO Specification:
The ITSO Specification is a technical platform on which interoperable smart ticketing schemes can be built. It defines the key technical items and interfaces that are required to deliver interoperability between both, components of a ticketing system – smart media, points of service and back offices - and separate ticketing systems. ITSO is unique in transport smartcard schemes in that it covers all components - card, point of service and back office systems.
The ITSO Specification is an open specification and is subject to Crown Copyright protection.