Executive Summary

Our refreshed vision reflects the work already delivered to date by the Scottish Government, local transport authorities and operators, to enable smart ticketing and payment across the public transport network. It now sets forth the aspirations and actions to take this further, to encourage the use of more sustainable public transport by addressing ticketing and payment barriers that have arisen with the adoption of different technologies, and the change of travel patterns following the Covid pandemic that means passengers’ demands have changed. The actions support wider Scottish Government policies to improve the availability, affordability and accessibility of public transport.

To do this Transport Scotland propose a series of short, medium and long-term activities over the next ten years, focusing on establishing the right foundations and working with industry partners and public bodies, to progress the modernisation of both integrated smart ticketing and payment, and the provision of digital travel data across Scotland, with a consistent approach.

Over the short term, Transport Scotland will introduce legislation from the 2019 Act on ticketing arrangements and schemes, for use by authorities and operators, and support the work of NSTAB to advise on the future of smart ticketing and improvements to smart ticketing schemes in Scotland. To improve integrated journey planning and data standardisation, new Digital Travel Data Services will be introduced and a consultation on bus open data legislation will be held. The Mobility as a Service (MaaS) Investment Fund pilot projects will be evaluated to ascertain next steps for this concept, the concessionary travel scheme will continue to modernise providing improved concessionary journey data, and the feasibility study to understand options to provide a digital platform for concessionary travel will be completed.

In the medium term, the advice from NSTAB regarding the specification of technological standards for smart ticketing will be considered, and the feasibility of a new national integrated ticketing system for public transport in Scotland will be progressed, taking into account any future necessary legislation. Ferry concessionary travel will be rolled out on a smart platform between the mainland and eligible islands on the west coast, the options for a digital concessionary platform pilot will be acted upon, if the feasibility study indications are positive. Additionally, legislation from the 2019 Act on information provision and open data will be introduced to improve travel data and journey planning.

In the long term, following introduction of the smart ticketing and open data elements from the 2019 Act, including those relating to a technological standard, Transport Scotland will work with local transport authorities to continuously enhance their integrated ticketing schemes, ensuring that they keep pace with evolving technology, grow their geographic and modal reach, and utilise the technological standard for smart ticketing and any new national integrated ticketing system. In addition, Transport Scotland will work with operators to comply with open data legislation from the 2019 Act and as the current Digital Travel Data Services contract will be drawing to a close, will commence procurement activity for the following service provision.

These actions encapsulate the vision and epitomise the key principles, to not only provide a more consistent experience when using smart ticketing and payment, but also make access to public transport easier and more inclusive.