Vision, principles and strategic context

Delivery strategy vision

The vision focuses the direction of the development of smart and integrated ticketing and payment, alongside improved digital journey planning services in Scotland, supporting wider government policy.

“Increase use of sustainable public transport by providing smart and integrated ticketing, payment, and journey planning data enhancements, contributing to a healthier, fairer and more prosperous Scotland.”

The role of Transport Scotland

Transport Scotland’s role is to enable and support the vision, to deliver a simple, consistent smart travel experience across all public transport modes, and help to improve the availability, affordability and accessibility of public transport. Transport Scotland will work with stakeholders to develop policy and deliver projects to further support the development of smart, digital, and integrated ticketing and journey planning in Scotland, building on progress the public transport sector and transport authorities are already making, as well as addressing the ticketing barriers that impact people looking to use public transport.

This means working with authorities and operators to enhance the interoperability, consistency and reach of smart technology, when the market or technology isn’t fully delivering for passengers; empowering authorities and operators to develop their own regional smart and integrated ticketing, and exploring progression of a national integrated ticketing system if required; driving forward travel data and journey planning innovation; providing technical support for the National Concessionary Travel Scheme; and delivering ticketing and travel data measures as detailed in the 2019 Act to support modernisation of public transport ticketing.

This work improves access to public transport and supports the delivery of commitments in the second National Transport Strategy (NTS2), the second Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), and wider Scottish Government policy including the Fair Fares Review, 20% reduction in car use, and Best Start, Bright Futures (the plan to tackle child poverty), amongst others.

To guide our role, the strategy sets forward a number of principles to underpin the vision and delivery strategy.

Delivery strategy principles

The vision is underpinned by three core principles that are intended to remain relevant in a rapidly evolving technological landscape. Smart and integrated ticketing, payment, and journey planning data should:

• The availability of tickets should be maintained or improved from a passenger’s perspective.
• There should be minimal barriers to purchasing tickets, and the scope of their use should be intuitive and logical.
• There should be consistent payment, retail and validation of tickets across operators and modes, to provide a simplified customer experience.
• Operators and local transport authorities should work together to make multi-operator and multi-modal travel simpler.
• Consistent technology across operators to increase simplification, efficiencies, and support technical systems integration.
• Journey information should provide the data that users need to be best informed and confident about their journey.
• Journey planning data should enable integrated door-to-door journeys and be openly available to enhance awareness of transport options.
• There should be consistent data standards to support efficient data sharing and processing.

• Smart ticketing should help to improve accessibility of ticket retail and use.
• There should be minimal steps to accessing tickets, and the experience should be intuitive and logical.
• Smart infrastructure should allow the introduction of tickets that provide more benefits, travel and fare opportunities to passengers.
• Tickets, including promotional tickets, should be available to as many people as possible and not exclude those who do not have access or wish to use to smart or digital platforms.
• Journey planning systems should be accessible, in logical formats and on accessible platforms.
• Data that enhances accessibility of transport should be openly available.

• Smart ticketing should support more affordable travel, supporting discounts, promotions and best-fare calculations.
• Integrated ticketing should enable cost effective journeys to be made that include multiple operators or modes.
• Journey planning should provide better fares information to enable people to choose affordable travel.

Policy context

National Transport Strategy 2

The NTS2 sets out an ambitious and compelling vision for our transport system for the next twenty years – to reduce inequalities, take climate action, help deliver economic growth, and improve our health and wellbeing.

Smart, digital and integrated ticketing and travel data can help to tackle barriers to public transport connectivity and accessibility, improve the quality and availability of information to enable everyone to make more sustainable transport choices, drive innovation, deliver value for money for businesses and passengers, and support a transport system that includes and promotes active travel choices.

Strategic Transport Projects Review 2

STPR2 provides an overview of transport investment, mainly infrastructure and other behavioural change recommendations, which are required to deliver the NTS2 priorities. The STPR2 recommends building on the interventions and new services delivered under the 2018 smart and integrated ticketing delivery strategy to continue with the support and ongoing delivery of fully integrated smart ticketing and payment services across all public transport modes, to support increased use of sustainable modes.

It also recommends that pilot schemes involving Digital Demand Responsive Transport and MaaS draw on innovative solutions, international best practice and smart technologies. These schemes will help to establish whether scarce existing resources could be better utilised across the public network, home to school transport, special educational needs travel and non-emergency patient travel, either on the basis of fixed route services or through flexible routeing.

Transport (Scotland) Act 2019

The 2019 Act makes a number of amendments to the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001. It includes measures to enhance the delivery of smart ticketing and travel data in Scotland, including provision to establish NSTAB, which commenced operation in 2023. The Act allows for the setting of a smart ticketing technological standard, introduces provision to enhance the operation of regional ticketing arrangements and schemes across Scotland, and strengthens the powers of local transport authorities to ensure that these arrangements and schemes meet public need. The Act also includes provision to introduce legislation on bus open data, which is intended to provide high quality and more extensive fares, ticketing, accessibility and real time information to the public.

The Fair Fares Review

The Scottish Government published its Fair Fares Review in March 2024. The Review sets out a number of short and medium to longer term actions to ensure that a sustainable and integrated approach is taken to public transport fares, supporting the future long-term viability of a public transport system that is more accessible, available, and affordable for people throughout Scotland. Smart, digital, and integrated ticketing and travel data is key to its success, and this delivery strategy complements the delivery of the Fair Fares Review recommendations.

In particular the Fair Fares Review recommends the development of a national integrated ticketing system, and notes requirements for advice from NSTAB on the national technological standard to improve smart ticketing integration between modes.

Islands Connectivity Plan, target to reduce car use, and tackling child poverty

The draft Islands Connectivity Plan was published in early 2024, and sets out how ferry services, supported by other transport modes, will be delivered, and strengthened, working towards a long-term vision, and supported by clear priorities and defined outcomes for people and places. It includes developing smart and integrated ticketing and travel information.

The Scottish Government has a plan to reduce car kilometres by 20% by 2030. With regards to ticketing, this includes establishing NSTAB, the delivery of the next generation travel data system to enhance journey planning services and establishing bus open data standards.

Additionally, the climate change action plan includes actions to tackle climate change with a suite of new policies on transport, including increasing the number of electric vehicle chargers, and land use. In particular, it includes the development of a new national integrated ticketing system for public transport in Scotland across all modes of transport to enable a system that can be used for all elements of a journey, with a first step of publishing a new smart ticketing delivery strategy in 2024, alongside the business case for introducing national and/or regional integrated fare structures.

Finally, the Best Start, Bright Futures Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan sets out actions to tackle child poverty. In relation to transport, the plan includes the action: “to improve the connectivity of public transport, we are procuring the next generation digital travel data systems needed for users to plan their journey across all public transport… helping parents and carers to get where they need to go.”