Innovatious presented at the Smartex Transport Card Forum at the end of February 2026. We took the opportunity to share our take on what is happening in the complex world of smart ticketing in the UK.
Centralisation in no longer in vogue, with power – to a degree – being devolved to the regions. Many Mayoral Authorities are taking the opportunity to franchise buses whilst others have sought to strengthen enhanced partnerships. Pretty much all want a multi-modal offer for their citizens.
On the plus side, there are a few key enablers. Innovatious has enjoyed working with Rail Delivery Group to establish a universal interoperable transit token for cEMV. More recently we’ve helped develop the RDG Front Office Device standard to enable interoperability between FODs and ABT Back Offices of different suppliers. This will be published as RSPS3305 in due course. RDG is, of course, also developing the Tap Converter, which takes Rail Taps and processes them into journeys, fares, products and charges. This could effectively form a service to regions who want to add rail to their bus/tram offer.
As well as rail enablers, there is also the emerging Coral Broker which aims to enable seamless “tap-and-go” travel across different transport providers who retain their existing cEMV solutions. Meanwhile STAG has developed a multi-modal barcode standard to enable barcode ticketing to be offered on rail, bus and tram potentially via one App / retailer.
Having these enablers is great (or will be when they are fully out there) for regions developing a consistent customer offer across modes. But there are risks.
Regions may choose to engage with enablers in different ways. Areas that are pursuing franchising may not view the Broker as a priority although it will be needed for cross-boundary journeys.
A fully devolved approach where regions develop independent systems may result in different customer propositions and will be unable to make the efficiency gains and scalability that a joint solution might.
This is not an argument for a return to centralisation but that greater efficiencies could be achieved whilst enabling regions and / or operators to set their own products ranges, fares and technologies used. If not, we fear that there is not enough funding to go round leaving a patchwork of first movers and ‘left-behinds’.
Click here to find the full set of slides and feel free to join in the debate via Smartex and Linked In.