The bodies will work together to facilitate the definition of technical standards which will enable transit operators to launch public transport applications on new and emerging multiple application media, such as near field communication (NFC) handsets and contactless cards, including payment cards.
While ISO TC204 develops standards for intelligent transportation systems, Working Group 8 (WG8) focuses its standards development activities on public transport and emergency services. Among its current work portfolio is a work item centered on providing a standard mechanism for integrating fare collection systems in multi-application media for the international public transit industry. This presents opportunities for ticketing applications to be loaded and operated alongside other applications, on media issued by non-transit partners.
An alignment with GlobalPlatform has been sought to enable ISO TC204 WG8 to leverage key features of GlobalPlatform’s card technology for use in this initiative including: The ability to securely provision and manage multiple applications, offered by various transit service providers, on third party NFC and contactless media; The capability to run performance assessments on third party media or tokens based on GlobalPlatform Specifications. This feature is of particular importance to transit operators as the performance of media carrying transit applications, particularly their transaction speeds, can significantly impact the success of an application.
Koorosh Olyai, Chairman of ISO TC204 WG8 said: “Our liaison with GlobalPlatform is highly regarded across WG8 of ISO TC204. As a cross-industry organization, GlobalPlatform has significant experience of evolving its technical specifications to address the specific requirements of individual market sectors. The introduction of Java Contactless Cards™, USB keys and other new devices including NFC phones represents an exciting yet challenging time for the international public transit industry. There is a real opportunity to make ticketing and other transit applications available to the mass market through these media by developing partnerships with entities outside of the transit sector, but it is crucial that a standardized technical ecosystem is put in place to allow that to happen and overcome the current fragmentation in the global market. This is where we believe GlobalPlatform can add significant value to our work effort.
“The collaboration with GlobalPlatform will also be of value for the new preliminary work item that has recently been approved. The item titled, ‘Mobile Architecture Designs Promoting Competition and Integration Across Varying Mobile Platforms’, will address the use of mobile applications in public transport.”
Gil Bernabeu, Technical Director at GlobalPlatform, adds: “It is an honor to work alongside ISO TC204 WG8 on its transit sector standardization activities. GlobalPlatform’s commitment to supporting standardization across global public transportation services was demonstrated in 2010 when the organization created the Transportation Sub Task Force to actively contribute to the evolution of smart ticketing solutions and published a white paper outlining GlobalPlatform’s value proposition to the transit industry. The work we will conduct with ISO will complement the ongoing work within this sub task force to ensure that GlobalPlatform technology continues to support this dynamic sector in a very significant way.”