From smart cards to account-based ticketing: together, we are researching and developing the next generation of digital ticketing for public transport.
In 2005, nobody expected iOS; in 2015, nobody expected Huawei’s HarmonyOS operating system; and in 2020, nobody expected the Deutschland-Ticket: as we don’t have a crystal ball either, we explore and research every possible avenue. We constantly keep an eye on topics that could shape the industry.
We have been looking into use cases for mobile phones, for example, since 2006. The idea of improving the barcode for mobile tickets arose in 2015.
Today, we provide the industry with Motics, which protects electronic tickets from copying and tampering. The SAM servers, currently in operation at Rheinbahn and Hamburger Hochbahn, were
also developed in accordance with our guidelines and specifications.
Another product of our research division’s work is the second generation of our security management system (2GSI), which is the driving force behind our new ticketing standard ((etiCORE). We are currently working on an interoperable ticket store to ensure that account-based ticketing works even across transport network boundaries.
We must also be prepared for new versions of the most common operating systems. This ensures we can provide the technical solutions and systems as soon as the industry needs them. That is why we are, amongst other things, in dialogue with companies such as Google and Apple.
However, innovations that we develop for the sector must be compatible with more than just one provider or system. They must be suitable for mass use, robust and accessible without discrimination in order to safeguard the independence of public transport. We use these criteria to evaluate new technologies and concepts.
We are currently focusing on four major technical areas that are, or will become, relevant to ticketing in public transport.
In embedded security, security-relevant data is stored on the module – for example, the chip. This protects it from external digital tampering.
Data encryption must now also be protected against attacks using quantum computers. That is why we, too, are working on the development of post-quantum secure cryptography to ensure the security of ticketing in the future.
Smart contracts are digital contracts with ‘if-then’ conditions that are based on blockchain technology. A smart contract of this kind could ensure that a passenger pays a lower rental fee for an e-scooter if they frequently use their job ticket to book partner offers from their transport operator.
Passengers have sole control over their data and can amend or delete it at any time, as it is not managed or controlled by a central authority.
Because we develop solutions to the challenges facing the sector, dialogue with transport operators, transport associations and the industry is of immense importance to us.
We work with companies such as Google and Apple to, for example, integrate Motics-secured tickets into the Wallet or make them readable via NFC. But of course, we also engage in dialogue with universities.
If the sector has specific ideas about what should be changed in the ticketing standard or what we can improve, the relevant individuals submit what is known as a ‘change request’.
In the Standardisation Working Group (AGS), we decide together with representatives from transport operators which CRs are suitable for implementation. What is ultimately implemented is decided jointly by the participants of (((eTicket Deutschland at the annual general meeting.
Behind everything we conceive and develop are Joe, our Head of Research and Development, and his team. Joe, for example, is the brains behind Motics and helped work on the European IFM (Interoperable Fare Management) project to integrate various ticketing standards such as Calypso (France/Belgium), ITSO (UK) and the VDV core application (Germany) onto a single smartcard.
This is what it looked like: the dawn of interoperable ticketing in Europe – the IFM project, or rather the very first smart card that could be validated against various ticketing standards. This enabled commuters in border regions to use public transport in different countries with a single smart card. Incidentally, this also marked the birth of the Smart Ticketing Alliance (STA), of which we are a founding member.
This is Dr Fabian Ohler from the Innovation & Development team. Fabian is an IT architect and has, amongst other things, worked on the development of (((etiCORE.
Can Apak is also an IT architect and, together with Fabian and Wilk, has worked on (((etiCORE as well as planning the new (((eTicket Security Hub (ESH).
We are
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Germany
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