Reusable contactless single-journey tickets debut in South Korea
08 July, 2009
category: Contactless, Financial, Transit
Recyclable single-journey contactless tickets based on technology from RFID chip developer STMicroelectronics is expected to save Seoul, South Korea about $2.4 million a year because it won’t have to print 450 million paper tickets. In the new system, automated vending machines issue the Single Journey Ticket in exchange for each passenger’s payment plus a deposit for the ticket.
Each ticket contains ST’s SRT512 contactless memory chip, which has features that allow the cards to be returned and re-issued to new passengers. This recycling of the tickets will save the cost of generating hundreds of millions of disposable paper tickets.
ST has worked with card issuer Korea Smart Card Co. Ltd., which operates the New Transportation System for the Seoul Metropolitan Government, to optimize the SRT512 to support the subway’s ticketing system.
The SRT512 is specifically designed for short-range applications meeting ISO 14443-B that need reusable tokens, such as access-control, event-ticketing and mass-transport ticketing applications. To operate effectively in these applications, the device features a built-in anti-collision mechanism to prevent conflicts with other nearby cards.