1Bilhete.pt will put the ticketing systems of different cities speaking the same "language". It will allow, for example, using the Navegante card to travel in Porto, having all tickets and passes in a single application on the cell phone and also using contactless bank cards to pay for trips.
Currently, those who live in Lisbon have a Navegante card to use public transport in the city and metropolitan area. But if you're visiting Porto, you'll need to buy an Andante card to use the local metro or bus network. And if you want to go to Braga by train, for example, you'll need an Siga card. The 1Bilhete.pt project wants to put an end to this, unifying the national ticketing system into a single system.
O 1Bilhete.com will not mean a single ticket to ride on all transportation in the country, but rather a common platform for the different tickets. With 1Bilhete.pt, passengers can use the same card - for example, a Navegante or Andante card - to charge a monthly pass for Lisbon's public transports, train tickets and trips on Porto's Metro. They will also be able to have in one single app on mobile all their tickets and public transportation passes, and they will be able to use a bank card contactless to travel on the country's various transports.
1Bilhete.pt will thus be a technological platform for intermodal ticketing for Portugal that will allow interoperability between the existing ticketing systems, as well as the introduction of new forms of payment The project will start by aggregating the Navegante and Andantebut is open to any operator from any city and/or transport authority from any region that wishes to integrate the system. But the dissemination of the platform throughout the national territory will depend on the adhesion of entities with competences or attributions in the field of ticketing systems and which may benefit from access to financial investment for the implementation of the project - the first step is the expression of interest, at the Institute of Mobility and Transport (IMT)by sending an e-mail to sec.dseap@imt-ip.pt.
The technological development of the 1Bilhete.pt platform will be developed by Lisbon Metropolitan Transports (TML) and by Port Intermodal Transports (TIP)with the supervision of IMT. The three entities will work collaboratively, sharing resources and knowledge. The value of the investment foreseen to support the development of this project is 2.5 million euros.
The 1Bilhete.pt platform will be made available to the public, in a phased manner, according to the planning foreseen for the development of the different solutions:
- by the end of 2023the platform that will allow integrate different ticketing systemsThis is, putting the Navegante "talking" with Andante, for example, allowing passengers to buy with their Navegante card trips on Metro do Porto or discount Zapping balance in STCP buses;
- until March 20241Bilhete.pt cell phone application will be available that will allow you to have, in the same virtual wallet, different passes and tickets for different operators and different cities in the country. It will also be possible to buy these same passes and tickets via cell phone, without the need for a physical support;
- by the end of 2024the availability of buying trips with bank cards is planned contactless and systems like Apple/Google Pay in the operators, cities and regions that join the 1Bilhete.pt platform.
As mentioned, 1Bilhete.pt will to start up the ticketing systems of the two national metropolitan areas - Navegante and Andante -, which already use the same technological base, called CalypsoIn order to make Navegante and Andante understand the same "language", a kind of "translator" will be developed. To make Navegante and Andante understand the same "language", a kind of "translator" will be developed. In more technical language, 1Bilhete.pt will consist of a common API for all transport authorities in the country, with different plug-ins that allow to respond to the specificities of different card technologies and data models. With this API, it will be possible to dematerialize cards, tickets and passes, allowing passengers to make their trips with a simple QR code ("Account Based Ticketing").
Regarding the application for cell phones, 1Bilhete.pt proposes to develop the tools (SDK) and services that enable the creation of mobile ticketing apps. There may be a 1Bilhete.pt application, but the focus of the project will be to allow each operator or local transport authority to develop their own applications without having to do everything from scratch - that is, being able to have a technological base. 1Bilhete.pt will think of Android and iOS applications that allow physical cards to be charged (TopUP, as is the case of Pick Hub) and that emulate virtual cards (i.e., use the cell phone as a card).
The third and last part of 1Bilhete.pt is the technological development in order to allow use of bank cards contactless in public transportation; in this way, operators and transportation authorities in the various regions of the country will be able to integrate contactless card payments or systems such as Apple/Google Pay effortlessly and ensure the integration of their local public transportation offering into future "mobility as a service" (MaaS) solutions that may be launched.
In summary: the 1Bilhete.pt platform will make it possible, with any public transport card or mobile application, to acquire and validate transport passes/bills from other systems, without having to buy a new card or install another application on your cell phone. In addition, it will be possible to create public transport travel tickets of national coverage and use bank cards, in physical or virtual support, to acquire or validate transport passes/billsopening up the possibility of the attribution of benefits arising from the use of a unified account.
To the newspaper ObservadorThe Secretary of State for Urban Mobility, Jorge Delgado, said that the project's main goal is "allow the same [ticketing] system to be used anywhere in the territory". With that, "and, with this, "we can make a stronger leap towards facilitating the creation of intermodal titles, which can be used inter-municipal, inter-regional and, in the limit, make that one title can be used for one trip throughout the country".
"The metropolitan areas already have a lot of work done. With this platform, we called the two metropolitan areas and said: 'let's share the information and standardize the criteria in these two areas'. On top of this, we put the IMT (Institute of Mobility and Transport) in charge of coordinating and being the trustee of all the work that is done.added the responsible. In practice, may be born a ticket or single pass between the metropolitan area of Lisbon and the West region. or between Porto and Braga, which are part of distinct Intermunicipal Communities, because the current technological barrier that exists will be overturned (if the respective municipalities join the platform), as noted the Observer. "If that is standardized, that difficulty ceases to exist. We want to avoid wasting resources, because [today] all authorities have to develop their ticketing systems autonomously, not sharing resources and often doing the same thing that another authority has already done."said Jorge Delgado to the same newspaper.
Although the first phase of the 1Bilhete.pt project is planned for the end of 2023, the Secretary of State for Urban Mobility has announced that by the time of the World Youth Day, which takes place in August, this first part, i.e. the integration of the Navegante and Andante ticketing systems, should be under test. "very extensive"said the politician.
A "mobility card" in companies
Last week, in a parliamentary hearing, the Minister of the Environment, Duarte Cordeiro, announced that the Government is working on the creation of a mobility card, which, similarly to the meal card, companies can provide their employees with a pre-loaded balance to spend on mobility solutions, such as passes and public transportation tickets, "including occasional, long-distance travel, shared car or bike systems, and perhaps acquisition of bicycles and charging of electric vehicles". According to Duarte Cordeiro, quoted by the newspaper Observadorthis mobility card will be a way for companies "share the mobility expenses of workers and discourage the use of individual transport".
In Parliament, the Environment Minister also said that the next framework of European funds will have an additional 660 million euros for transport infrastructure, enabling projects such as the Western LIOS between Lisbon and Oeiras, or the expansion of the MTS to Costa da Caparica, but also the possibility of bringing the Metro do Porto to Gondomar and to Trofa, and implement a metrobus solution (BRT) in Braga. According to Duarte Cordeiro, Portugal has invested 4.8 billion euros since 2015 in mobility, including rolling stock and fare reduction.
