Helsinki, Finland--A country of only five million in the far north of Europe--where
days are dark half the year and the sun hardly ever sets during the summer months--has
brought to fruition an enviable nationwide smart card clearing system that goes far beyond
a mere pilot program or feasibility demonstration.
The private sector Matkahoulto Group, headquartered in Helsinki, has persuaded the
owners of about 90 percent of the country's privately-owned intercity bus fleets,
numbering around 4,500 vehicles, to install smart card readers. The
microchip-equipped smart cards themselves are being sold by the group's network of some 60
bus terminals and some 400 sales outlets throughout the country.
The group has sold more than 25 million smart card trips, representing nerly 10 percent
of the more than 360 million Finnish bus journeys per year. That number is likely to
increase this year as the new readers come on line. The company's marketing manager,
Liisa Jokitalo, estimates that more than about 200,000 rechargeable contact and promimity
cards will be in use in Finland by the end of the year.
The cards, produced by Schlumberger, France, can be "topped up" by card
machines carried aboard the buses as well as at terminals and sales outlets. A pilot
project using combined contact and contactless cards is also underway.
Matkahoulto's smart card is a shared processor card already being used to pay for a
variety of other services beyond regional transport. For example, the
"citcard" projects in Rovaniemi and Seinajoki, which are now being replicated by
other Finnish jurisdictions, allow residents to pay for services provided by the local
community, including parking and school fees, school lunches for students and staff, and
the alternative transport system operated for the mobility-impaired. It is also
already being used in some locations as a library card. Negotiations are underway to
expand smart card use to cover the surface transport requirements of individual members of
the armed forces.
The chip cards have improved the ability of local communities to provide services to
residents and to target support payments to where they will be the most cost-effective.
The decrementing Finnish smart cards are being configured as season tickets, to
cover a specified number of journeys, or to cover travel and other services up to a
specified cost level.
Matkahoulto, which is owned by the Finnish Bus and Coach Association, also operates the
increasingly significant central clearing system for revenue allocation among FBCA member
companies. The security of the system is ensured by sophisticated electronic coding
devices that prevent changes or tampering with the data on individual cards.
For more information on Matkahoulto and its operations, visit its web site on the
Internet, http://www.matkahoulto.fi.
Return To International Focus
Some of these pages may include links to documents in the Adobe PDF format. Please download the Adobe PDF reader if you have not already done so.
