A Critical Evaluation of ITSO Smart Ticketing policy, practice and outcomes

Abstract

This thesis contributes to the ongoing debate on the future of smart ticketing in the United Kingdom, and in particular the role of ITSO in that future. Through evaluation of commentary from prominent elite personnel connected with the transport industry and from local and national government departments, this thesis identifies the environment in which smart ticketing is intended to operate, the means by which that is achieved and the significance of the outcomes. Key themes which emerged from the research were Partnership Working and Governance, the Customer Proposition and the ITSO Question, which focused on the operationalisation of smart ticketing in the bus industry.

In terms of the evaluation of the outcomes of ITSO, conclusions are reached as to the success ITSO has achieved in terms of the national concessionary schemes as well as the limited success it has achieved in relation to commercial interoperable ticketing in a deregulated environment which has been revealed to work against the concept of interoperability.