ITSO beyond the UK
Many stakeholders in ITSO have interests beyond the UK. Passengers travel across borders; transport operators often have international parents or subsidiaries; and suppliers have global markets.
For ITSO, most of the Standards we comply with are European or Global in nature and there is an ongoing need to keep abreast of technology changes and to recognise and aspire to being “best in class”.
Working with standards
ITSO works through the UK’s standards body, BSI, to ensure European (CEN) and International (ISO) standards are kept up-to-date and relevant to the needs of ITSO and its Members. ITSO is an active participant in a number of relevant committees of both CEN and ISO. ITSO also uses standards issued by other standards making bodies such as the NFC Forum and Global Platform.
ITSO is a member of the NFC Forum and has a liaison with Global Platform (through the Smart Ticketing Alliance).
Smart Ticketing Alliance
In order to coordinate efforts in standards making, ITSO works closely with other European national Smart Ticketing Schemes through the Smart Ticketing Alliance. ITSO is represented by John Verity, Chief Adviser to ITSO who also chairs the STA. John sits on the ISO/CEN Standardisation committees overseeing smartcards in transport and supports both the UITP and the European Commission as an expert on Smart Ticketing.
ITSO and its Smart Ticketing Alliance partners have been successful in extending the earlier work of the EU-IFM Project to embrace the developing NFC technology The Smart Ticketing Alliance, with support from colleagues in the Americas and the Far East, have worked with the NFC Forum and the Mobile Network Operators (through the GSMA) to ensure the specific requirements of public transport smartcard schemes are reflected in the latest NFC and mobile handset specifications.. A White Paper has been prepared in conjunction with the NFC Forum and is available to download.
The Smart Ticketing Alliance is developing a Certification Scheme for public transport smartcard readers to assure their compatibility with NFC mobile devices.
UITP
ITSO is also an active member of the international association for Public Transport, UITP.