Up until 2002, there were more than 140 transport operators and transport associations in Germany, all of which used different media, ticket types, concepts and system components. This made interoperability virtually impossible and made it very complicated for passengers to use public transport across fare zones. This diversity also made it difficult for manufacturers to mass-produce system components and ticket machines.

Consequently, in 2002, the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) decided to create a standard for transport operators that would standardise ticket purchasing and ticket inspection throughout Germany.

The development of the VDV core application

The aim was to find a solution to ensure interoperability within each individual transport network, as well as between different transport networks and between modes of transport operated by different transport operators – without imposing uniform fares or a single system on everyone. Passengers should be able to use public transport throughout Germany with a single application, initialised for public transport, on a mobile storage medium (e.g. a chip card). Hence the name of our standard: VDV Core Application.

In 2002, 14 transport operators and associations launched their own research project called ‘Interoperable VDV Core Application’, which was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The project partners were the Rhine-Main Transport Association, the Upper Elbe Transport Association, the Fraunhofer Institute for Transport and Infrastructure Systems IVI, and the VDV Förderkreis e. V.

Partners from industry, such as Cubic Deutschland, Infineon, Siemens, T-Systems and TEWET, were also involved. The research project simultaneously laid the foundations for the certification of the components used in core application systems.

On 4 March 2004, ‘VDV-Kernapplikation GmbH & Co. KG’ was founded as the publisher of the EFM standard and custodian of ((eTicket Deutschland. Since 2014, it has operated under the name “VDV eTicket Service GmbH & Co. KG”, or VDV ETS for short.

Our role since then has been to define the organisational and contractual conditions as well as the specifications for (((eTicket Deutschland and to manage the registration and security processes.

The VDV Core Application, or VDV-KA for short, is a specification that describes data and security management as well as interfaces in electronic ticketing for public transport in Germany. It serves as a blueprint for transport operators and networks when developing e-ticket systems. It is the only recognised standard for German public transport tickets and is therefore the technological cornerstone of Electronic Fare Management (EFM).

All transport operators and associations in Germany use this standard. They sign a participation agreement with us and thus become participants in ((eTicket Deutschland. This entitles them to make commercial use of the VDV-KA specifications and their successor (((etiCORE, and to access the shared back-end systems.

A little fun fact from the history of public transport: in 1965, the Hamburg Transport Association (HVV) was founded as the world’s first transport association. This laid the foundations in Hamburg for using a single ticket to travel on all public transport within an association region. This innovation continues to characterise local transport in Germany to this day and simplifies mobility in both urban and rural areas.