Contactless farecards with associated "electronic purse" features that allow small purchases and multimodal access are being tested in four European cities of differing sizes--Konstanz, Germany; Lisbon, Portugal; Venice; and Paris--as part of a European Union research group. The two-year demonstration program runs until the end of 1999.
In the Paris version, about a thousand employees of Regie Autonome des Transports Parisiens, the regional transit authority, are using their contactless farecards for snack bar and newspaper purchases at station vendors equipped with readers like those at the 80 stations in the system that now accept the card. They can use also use the card on a suburban bus line, as a security "key" to gain access to their offices, and as a "time card" to check into their buildings.
The cards are resupplied with cash electronically from users' bank accounts or at ticket windows.
Conversion of the entire RATP system to contactless farecards, in place of the obsolescent magnetic cards now in use, awaits a decision of top management. "We are ready on the technical side," said Andre Ampelas, RATP information systems director.
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