Dublin Bus smart card stifled bid to introduce integrated ticketing

An attempt last year to introduce integrated ticketing on all Dublin transport systems failed because Dublin Bus was seeking to introduce its own travel "smart card", an Oireachtas transport committee has heard.

Plans to introduce integrated ticketing on Dublin Bus and Dart services were originally put forward by CIÉ in the mid-1990s, but the project never got off the ground.

In 2002 the then minister for transport Mary O'Rourke announced the development of a smart card which would allow passengers to travel on any public transport system and some private buses using a single ticket or electronic card.

Responsibility for the introduction of an integrated ticketing system was given to the Railway Procurement Agency.

Technical and "institutional" issues had posed problems for the introduction of a smart card, the agency told the committee yesterday. Last summer it began the procurement process to find a company to develop the cards, the agency's chief executive Frank Allen said.

However it withdrew from the process when it emerged there was "confusion" among potential providers who were being asked to develop smart cards for an individual travel operator in the city, he said.

Mr Allen did not initially name the operator, but when pressed by committee chairman John Ellis (Fianna Fáil), he said Dublin Bus had been seeking to develop its own smart card, outside the procurement agency's process.

Mr Allen said the technical problems associated with integrated ticketing had been eliminated but there remained an institutional problem of bringing the various public and private sector companies together to agree on the ticketing project.

He welcomed the recent decision of Minister for Transport Martin Cullen to appoint a project board, with an independent chairman, to overcome this problem.

"The purpose of this project board is to achieve greater buy-in by all key stakeholders in implementing a smart card integrated ticketing system for Dublin," Mr Allen said.

"It is also intended to ensure that separate procurement of ticketing systems by any transport operator is consistent with overall integration."