Account based ticketing (ABT) is a new, promising way of e-ticketing that is different from traditional card-based schemes for fare-collection. Mainly because the bulk of the intelligence of the system is located in the central back office, not in local ticketing terminals and media. ABT offers advantages for the traveler like ease of use in the full mobility chain. It also offers flexibility for public transport authorities and mobility partners, for example with regard to fare changes.
In Smart Ticketing Alliance, partners work on a common vision with regard to account-based ticketing – with a mission:

• To identify and develop what the influencing factors are to be considered when implementing an ABT system. For example: business, legal and security factors.

• To propose a level playing field scenario that would allow for acting as a reference for policy makers to avoid fragmented implementations of account-based ticketing in Public Transport.

• To propose scenarios for account-based ticketing at scale to serve as an instrumental statement for ABT to be considered an enabler for multimodal seamless travel in new scenarios for Public Transport  jointly with other sustainable mobility service providers (B2B and B2C)  at present and in future (MaaS)

In November 2022,  an Open STA Stakeholder Workshop about ABT with many exciting discussions about best practice and worst experierence took place in Brussels. The participants represented the entire spectrum of European public transport: they came from various public transport companies and authorities, the international ticketing standard publishers as well as international mobility and payment service providers and data experts.

Representatives from the MaaS Alliance, UITP, the European Passenger Federation and the EU Commission were also present. At the end of this Open STA Stakeholder Workshop, the participants decided that, so far, a good basis was laid down for ABT, and that a common framework for ABT should be set up now under the aegis of STA:

In March 2023,  some  members of the Working Group account based ticketing met in a follow-up ignition workshop to start phase 2 of their work: Setting up a common framework based on common views. Representatives of the transport company Hamburger Hochbahn, the not-for-profit mobility organisation Calypso Networks Association and the scheme provider VDV eTicket Service as well as manufacturers like Cubic, IVU and NTT Data came together in Cologne with the task of developing a common framework and discussing components and the governance for ABT. Findings from the ignition workshop will be followed up by work to be carried out in the large STA ABT working group, consisting of more than 20 participants.

Another internal workshop of the Working Group took place on September 21st in Cologne. The Working Group successfully established a more universally comprehensible vocabulary, which is crucial for promoting understanding and trust. This lays a strong foundation for our upcoming initiatives.

By the end of 2023, the STA will release a mutually agreed-upon framework for interoperable ABT in mobility across Europe and beyond.