Smart Delivery Strategy

Our vision is to increase the use of sustainable public transport by providing smart and integrated ticketing, payment, and journey planning data enhancements, contributing to a healthier, fairer and more prosperous Scotland.

Our vision

Our 2024 Smart Delivery Strategy outlines our programme of work and strategy for the next 5-10 years, with better ticketing, clearer travel data, and services that let you plan and pay for journeys across buses, trains, and other transport in one place.

Since the 2018 Delivery Strategy, the context and development of smart ticketing has evolved. Technology (such as mobile tickets and contactless payments) is opening up more opportunities, and changing travel patterns following the COVID pandemic are evolving passenger’s expectations of smart tickets.

A refreshed delivery strategy was published in August 2024. It was informed by a smart and integrated ticketing survey held in 2023 and ongoing engagement with the industry and stakeholders. It explains how we will deliver the vision and bring stakeholders together around a shared understanding of smart ticketing, encouraging conversation, collaboration, and feedback.

The strategy builds on these smart ticketing achievements and sets forth our ambition to take this further. It outlines a series of short, medium and long-term activities, focusing on establishing the right foundations and working with industry partners and public bodies, to progress the modernisation of both integrated smart ticketing and payment, and the provision of digital travel data across Scotland, with a consistent approach. The actions support wider Scottish Government policies to improve the availability, affordability and accessibility of public transport.

The strategy has been informed by industry engagement, public feedback and evolution in technology.

The principles

The vision is underpinned by three core principles that are intended to remain relevant in a rapidly evolving technological landscape. Smart and integrated ticketing, payment, and journey planning data should:

• Be more available, simple and consistent
• Be accessible and inclusive
• Promote affordable travel

Our role

Transport Scotland’s role is to enable and support the vision, to deliver a simple, consistent smart travel experience across all public transport modes, and help to improve the availability, affordability and accessibility of public transport.

This means:

• working with authorities and operators to improve the interoperability, consistency and reach of smart technology
• empowering authorities and operators to develop their own regional smart and integrated ticketing
• exploring progression of a national integrated ticketing system if required
• driving travel data and journey planning innovation
• providing technical support for the National Concessionary Travel Scheme
• delivering ticketing and travel data measures as detailed in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019 to support modernisation of public transport ticketing.