… and you thought electronic ticketing machines made things easy.
Confidex is contracting with China’s Guangshen Railway Company (part of the world’s largest public transport operator) to star using contactless tickets.
Confidex, which designs and manufactures RFID tags, will provide 125 million RFID tickets starting in October, under terms of the contract.
The contactless ticket order is one of the largest single orders for RFID tags ever, say Confidex’s PR folks. In order to fulfill the contract, Confidex will establish a subsidiary, XinTag, in Guangzhou, China. Confidex’ RFID ticket products will be marketed under the XinTag brand.
RFID Solutions: Largest RFID Ticket Order To Date — Confidex To Provide 125 Million Contactless Tickets To Chinese Railway Operator 9/6/2006
The contract with Guangshen Railway Company, part of the world’s largest public transport operator, revolutionizes the market for limited use contactless tickets, doubling its volume and making Confidex global market leader.
Confidex, the RFID tag design and manufacturing specialist, announces today that Guangshen Railway Company Ltd. (NYSE:GSH), part of the world’s largest public transport operator, Ministry of Railways of China, has selected Confidex as the supplier of contactless limited use tickets. Under the five-year contract, Confidex is to provide 125 million RFID tickets, with deliveries to start in October of this year.
The contactless ticket order is one of the largest single orders for RFID tags ever and positions Confidex as the new global market leader for limited use RFID tickets. In order to fulfill the contract, Confidex will establish a subsidiary, XinTag, in Guangzhou, China. Confidex’ RFID ticket products will be marketed under the XinTag brand.
The Chinese railway system carries over 3 billion passengers annually and relies exclusively on single trip tickets. Guangshen Railway Company operates the strategically located railway between Guangzhou and Shenzhen, one of the most modern railways in the country. The operator is the first in the country to switch from the traditional barcode tickets to a contactless-only fare collection solution, with many more expected to follow. By introducing Confidex’ contactless tickets, Guangshen Railway Company expects to drastically reduce ticket fraud while at the same time enhancing passenger convenience.
The single-use contactless tickets to be provided by Confidex will be paper-based and will contain a Mifare UL chip. The scale of the project, which equals in size the entire market for limited use contactless tickets for 2005, creates economies of scale that enable Confidex to break the current price barriers for paper tickets, thus spurring further growth of the contactless ticket market. ![[end]](/resources/bullet/rfidnews-4.gif)
