New ticketing cards on the anvil-
Bangkok has one of the most advanced fare collection systems in Southeast Asia, along with Singapore. The city deployed integrated contactless smartcards and signed contracts for near field communication (NFC) as early as in 2012. Further, plans are afoot to establish a new integrated ticketing system for the city’s public transport.
Rabbit card and Carrot Rewards
Contactless smartcards, bank cards, mobile ticketing, single-journey tokens, prepaid passes and paper tickets are used for fare collection.
Rabbit – The contactless smartcard: The contactless smartcard, introduced in June 2012, is integrated for the SkyTrain, mass rapid transit (MRT), and bus rapid transit (BRT), and is used for retail purchases; personal identification; security and access control. The card was launched by Bangkok Smartcard System [BSS] Company Limited, a joint venture (JV) of the Bangkok Mass Transit System (BTS) and Bangkok Metro Company Limited.
The card is issued by Carrot Rewards Company Limited (formerly known as Bangkok SmartCard Technology Limited), a wholly owned subsidiary of the BTS Group.
France-based Thales has provided the smartcards. Germany-based Siemens and Japan-based Mitsui implemented the project. Table 1 gives the different types of Rabbit card.
Carrot Rewards is a loyalty programme which allows users to earn points with top-up and retail purchases for availing of gift certificates from Rabbit partners. The card is valid for five years.
Bank cards: Bangkok Bank and BSS have launched the Belst Smart Rabbit Debit Card and the Bangkok Bank Rabbit Credit Card. These cards can be used to pay fares, function as debit/credit cards and store electronic cash. The programme is regulated by the Bank of Thailand and the Ministry of Finance.
Mobile ticketing: In December 2012, BSS signed an NFC contract with local telecom provider Advanced Info Service Plc to enable passengers to use NFC-enabled mobile phones as a common device for mass transit fare payment and retail purchases. A soft launch was conducted in April 2013.
Others: Single-trip tokens and prepaid smart passes are used on the ARL. Besides, single-journey tokens are used on the MRT and paper tickets can be used on buses.
Introducing the Spider Card
In March 2015, the Office of Transport and Traffic Policy and Planning (OTTPP) under the Thailand Ministry of Transport announced its decision to set up a national committee and a public-private JV to establish an integrated ticketing system for the city’s public transport. The new system is expected to be launched by August 2016.
The new planned integrated ticketing system will be called the Mangmoom (Spider) Card. It will initially be used on BTS trains and expressways, and is later planned to be expanded to other transport systems such as the BMTA city buses, ARL, boats, vans and taxis, as well as retail.
The transport ministry will seek a budget of $10 million for the development of the system and $13 million for the development of a central clearing house. The OTTPP will fund operations for the first four years and then a government subsidy will take over.
The design of the new ticket was unveiled in October 2015. Test runs of the new system are expected to begin in March 2016 and be completed by August 2016.
Conclusion
Going forward, there are ambitious plans to invest about THB 3 trillion in transport infrastructure over the 2015-22 period. The mass transit projects include construction of light rail transit systems; four electric railway projects entailing a cost of THB 181.4 billion; extension of the SkyTrain and MRT networks; procurement of buses fuelled with compressed natural gas; doubling of the nationwide metre gauge rail network by 2022; and a new high speed rail network to connect Bangkok with major cities.
With such a level of planned expansions, the need for fully integrated fare media becomes crucial, as many passengers use multiple modes to complete a single journey. Apart from launching the new Mangmoom Card, there are also plans to increase the number of Rabbit Card users from the current 3.5 million to 4 million by 2016. For this, BTS has partnered with personal finance company Aeon Thana Sinsap (Thailand) to provide more privileges to cardholders as well as expand the user base. The combined measures of expanding network coverage and integrating fare systems is expected to ease Bangkok’s traffic congestion problem in the near future.
