The Netherlands
In 2002, Trans Link Systems was established by the five largest Dutch public transport companies to implement a single payment system for public transport in the Netherlands. The OV-Chipkaart is the world’s first automatic fare collection system to cover an entire country and all modes of public transport, including trains, buses, trams and metros.
In 2007, LECIP ARCONTIA teamed up with a local Dutch partner, Mobility Commerce Services (MCom), to design and supply ARC1009 add value machines (AVM) for topping up the OV-Chipkaart nationwide in the Netherlands. Between 2009 and 2010, LECP ARCONTIA equipped the Netherlands with 2,500 ARC1009 terminals, providing interoperability between the five public transport operators, as well as increased user convenience for passengers.
More than 2,500 ARC1009 terminals are installed onboard buses, as well as stations and other point of sale sites, including tobacco stores, bus and trains stations, allowing travellers to reload their travel cards with bank cards or activate their Internet top ups. The terminals are connected to the central back-office system via a corporate wireless GPRS connection, allowing for transactions to take place in a real time and secure environment. The fast communication speed between the terminal and back-office also allows for immediate notification of whether a card is valid or not, as well as instant recognition of any cards on the black list. Due to the fast and secure connection speed, the use of unauthorized cards is greatly minimized.
In partnership with Handheld Europe and Sigmax BV, LECIP ARCONTIA has equipped Dutch Railways (NS) in the Netherlands with rugged mobile devices for ticket control and travel information. The contact included 10,000 rugged Nautiz PDAs from Handheld, out of which 6,000 were Nautiz eTicket Pro PDAs with a fully embedded ISO 14443 A/B smart card reader from LECIP ARCONTIA. The reader was fully integrated into the PDA without any hardware changes to it, thanks to the unique design of the smart card reader and antenna.
In 2013, LECIP ARCONTIA teamed up with Telexis B.V. and Atos Worldline B.V. to equip trams. Today, more than 720 ARC3300 T5 validators have been placed onboard trams in The Hague. With enhanced user interface and contactless features, the validator allows for faster and easier payments onboard vehicles. Telexis’ e-ticketing solution provides the vehicle systems with the capability of automatic fare collection with a novel feature for online monitoring, resulting in improved reliability and greater accessibility for customers.