Danish public transport fare system provider Rejsekort & Rejseplan (RKRP) is trialling a hands-free automated app-based mobile ticketing system on bus and train services in Denmark’s North Jutland region as part of plans to develop a national digital mobility solution combining travel planning, booking, ticketing and payment across private and public modes of transport.

In addition to the trial, RKRP has published a request for proposals (RFP) inviting tenders for “a multi-vendor framework agreement” to develop, maintain and manage “a single consolidated solution” to “support a further development” of its Rejseplan travel planning app and replace its existing Rejsekort closed loop contactless ticketing system for bus, train, light rail and metro services across Denmark.

Journey tracking

The automated app-based ticketing solution that RKRP is testing with transport services provider Nordjyllands Trafikselskab in North Jutland uses GPS data from a passenger’s smartphone to track their journey in order to calculate the fare and charge the passenger via the app when they complete that journey.

The solution uses a check-in/check-out system developed by Swiss technology provider Fairtiq that has already been implemented in Switzerland, Liechtenstein and parts of Germany and Austria, enabling passengers to board and travel on public transport services without needing to validate tickets or make fare payments at fare gates, validators or onboard readers.

“Before boarding the train, tram or bus, users check in to the app with a single swipe. This will generate a valid ticket for all public transport in the given region,” Fairtiq explains.

“Once the traveller has arrived at their desired destination, they can end the journey by either swiping the stop button or activating the Smart Stop feature, which will carry out the process for them.

“The app recognises the distance travelled based on the device’s location data and charges the customer the best possible fare for the journey. For example, if the cost of a single journey exceeds the price of a one-day pass, the customer pays the cheapest of the two fares.”

A short video shows how Fairtiq’s mobile ticketing system works.

“It is an exciting time that we are moving into when, for the first time in the history of public transport, we have to test a fully digital solution for swiping in and out of buses and trains,” RKRP CEO Kasper Schmidt says.

“It is important that we find out whether a full digital solution is capable of dealing with the needs and issues we have experience with today under the Rejsekort system.”

The North Jutland pilot is “the first major user test of how a mobility service in Denmark might look in the future, when we are testing a ‘digital travel card’ in the form of an app,” Schmidt adds.

“The test is geographically and temporally limited and our focus is on learning as much as possible so that we are able to make the right demands for the future travel information and mobility service.”

Belgian railway operator SNCB began piloting an automated app-based ticketing system using Fairtiq’s check in/checkout solution in August 2021.

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