A user device stores what is known as a ‘travel authorisation’, as tickets or travel passes are referred to in technical jargon. This should not be confused with a ‘driving licence’, which is a licence to drive. In Germany, the most common user devices used in public transport are chip cards. Smartphones come in second place. Other user devices, such as smartwatches, are relatively uncommon in Germany.

In principle, however, the form of the user device is irrelevant: from a purely technical point of view, the user device is simply the carrier of an application containing the information required to validate an electronic ticket. In theory, an (((e-ticket can be stored on any suitable medium that meets the necessary technical requirements – such as a chip or an NFC interface. There are numerous examples of this internationally: from student ID cards on soft toys to NFC-enabled stickers, a wide variety of user media formats have already been tested.

Level 1 user media and smart card tender

We provide so-called Level 1 user media for the development and testing of ticket validation terminals. These are standardised test smart cards which are used as counterparts to the components under test. Functionally, they correspond to the user media used in subsequent live operation, but contain generic test data and identical cryptographic keys. This enables manufacturers and test laboratories to carry out standardised tests without having to request individual test cards from transport operators.

The cards already contain a key pair with a certificate and are prepared to store any authorisation data. As the cryptographic keys used are published, cryptographic calculations and potential sources of error can also be reliably traced.

On behalf of our transport operators and transport associations, we at VDV (((eTicket Service also organise centralised tenders for the cards at regular intervals. By pooling demand, participants in (((eTicket Deutschland benefit from better terms than they could achieve individually.

As smart cards have a limited lifespan for security reasons, we plan future demand in collaboration with the industry many years in advance. That is why, as early as autumn 2026, we will be collating the requirements for (((etiCORE smart cards for the period after the end of 2031.