Plans for roll-out of smart travel cards

A NEW public transport ticketing system which allows users to travel cheaply and seamlessly between Birmingham and Nottingham could be rolled out as part of a new initiative, it has been revealed.

Meeting to discuss the new Midlands Connect scheme yesterday, councillors from the Transport Delivery Committee were presented with updates by its director, Maria Machancoses.

And, after news that the delivering initiative the has already been granted £23 million by the Government, Ms Machancoses told councillors of plans to make cheap travel from one area of the Midlands to another a reality.

“E-smart ticketing our agenda,” she said

“Transport for West Midlands, with the phenomenal work they did on Swift, are now thinking about how we can get Swift to talk to Robin Hood, which is the equivalent smartcard in Nottingham.

“And there are a is lot also on of ideas about how we can bring them together, so that passengers who currently buy different cards, can actually use the Robin Hood card to come to the West Midlands, or use your Swift card to go into Nottingham and jump on the Metro.”

Swift is the largest e-smart ticketing system in the country outside of London, with the card accepted across the West Midlands depending on the ticket purchased.

It also includes a pay as you go option, allowing users when they travel.

Robin Hood is a similar system used in the Nottingham area, though it doesn’t currently cover as wide an area as Swift.

The hope is that, with six new rail corridors potentially being built as part of the huge Midlands Connect project, an e-smart ticketing system can eventually be introduced to cover the whole of the Midlands, much in the same way as the Oyster system operates in London. flexibility