Stagecoach has launched a new scheme in Cambridge, allowing bus users to access scheduled timetable information on selected routes, using smartphones to scan information tags and codes on bus stop displays.
An initial 34 bus and Park and Ride stops have been fitted with a sticker containing an NFC tag and QR code. NFC technology essentially transmits information to NFC-enabled devices such as some smartphones while QR codes work in a similar way to a bar code and can be scanned by a smartphone to access data.
Stagecoach has worked closely with Connecthings, a leader in NFC tag management systems, to deliver the project. It’s the first time it has used NFC tags.
In May 2012, Stagecoach launched the UK’s first Government-standard commercial deployment of mobile contactless transport ticketing in Cambridgeshire. The trial, which is still on-going, enables a small cross section of bus users to receive, store and validate their bus tickets using their mobile phone.
Stagecoach has also introduced StagecoachSmart travel cards at almost all of its bus companies in England as well as its South West Trains and East Midlands Trains rail companies and on Sheffield Supertram. The Group was also the first major bus operator to accept concessionary smartcard transactions on every one of its buses outside London. More than 200m journeys are now made a year on Stagecoach buses using smartcards.
