Indra is implementing a new contactless ticketing solution, an operation assistance system and a passenger information system in the 285 buses, at the 354 bus stops and in the Public Transport Control Center of the Council in the country's second largest city
Plovdiv City Council, the second largest city in Bulgaria, has awarded Indra a contract worth €8.3M to implement state-of-the-art contactless ticketing technology and an operation assistance system (OAS) in its public transportation service.
Indra will deploy its most advanced OAS technology in a control center that will provide up-to-date information about the location of every bus in the Plovdiv fleet, thanks to the use of an integrated data model for multiple bus-operators, geographical information systems, on-board equipment and mobile communications infrastructure, with 3G technology and private networks implemented by the company. This information will facilitate real-time decision-making in the event of incidents, the need for reinforcements, or detect any deviations in scheduled services.
The control center will also manage the information provided to passengers through the latest-generation multimedia screens that will be installed on the city's 285 buses and at its 354 bus stops. For example, passengers will be able to find out about the upcoming bus stops, connections with other routes, possible incidents, and the ETA for the next buses. They can also obtain all of this information on their own smartphones by downloading a free application from the city's website.
Making use of latest-generation multimedia screens, smartphone technology and cutting-edge control software, the project will improve the management and quality of the transportation system as well as providing better information for passengers
The Indra system will also make it much easier to schedule works on any of the routes as well as generating reports and graphs to illustrate details of the service, match it to real public demand, and therefore improve its quality while increasing output and cutting costs.
Contactless card
The Plovdiv project includes a new contactless ticketing system to replace the current XXX system, allowing passengers to board urban buses using a contactless card that is validated simply by passing it over the reader. This will not only speed up passenger boarding but will facilitate the combined use and management of different bus routes operated by a variety of private companies.
The project also contemplates the use of these cards to pay for other services provided by Plovdiv City Council, such as public parking lots, and it will be possible to top them up at 91 automatic machines and eight sales points.
All the information from the central ticketing system, which will facilitate the financial management of the service, will also be collected at the control center equipped by Indra. This will include ticket validation subsystems in buses, top-ups at sales points and in automatic machines, ticket inspection using portable terminals and shell of transport tickets via the website. Moreover, the transport control center will be interconnected with the National Revenue and Bank Exchange agencies in order to fully comply with domestic laws regarding taxes and credit-card money transactions.
Leading technology for urban transport and mobility
Indra's Plovdiv project adds to its wide experience of smart technology solutions for public transportation management, with projects in cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Mexico City, Medellín (Colombia), Curitiba (Brazil), Savannah (USA), Wroclaw (Poland) and Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia).
Indra's technology is being used in more than 14,500 vehicles worldwide, with its ticketing systems already in use in subway and streetcar systems in America, Europe and Asia
Indra's technology is already being used worldwide, managing more than 14,500 buses and subway systems in cities including Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, Lisbon, Santiago de Chile and Calcutta, Mexico City's local rail network, and the light rail systems in Austin and St. Louis, in the USA, to mention just a few. This demonstrates the confidence in the company's ticketing solutions. This year Indra has already been awarded the world's largest ticketing contract to implement all of the ticketing and access control systems for the new public transportation system being developed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with six subway lines and a fleet of 1,000 buses.
