New ITSO standard

摘要

Back in 1998, passenger transport organisations were frustrated by the need to source proprietary smartcard ticketing systems, on a company-by-company basis, for use in operations and concessionary areas, which frequently overlapped. With no common standards, investment could be wasted and duplicated. The result was an initiative by all the Passenger Transport Executives, including London Transport, to establish a not-for-profit organisation, ITSO, to create a fully interoperable contactless smartcard specification. ITSO is owned by its members, which include bus operators, train companies, suppliers to the industry, local authorities and the Department for Transport. Six years later, that vision is now a reality, with the publication of ITSO Specification version 2.1 (crown copyright) at the end of March 2004. The specification covers cards, points of sale, back office systems, data formats and transfer protocols.