One Year On: Denmark’s Bold Mobile-First Strategy has Reached Nearly 50% Adoption; Getting the Rest Could be More Difficult
Rejsekort & Rejseplan, Denmark’s national ticketing agency owned by the country’s public transport operators, launched its Rejsekort as an app one year ago this month.
The launch of the pay-as-you-go, GPS-enabled app is noteworthy. It's believed to be the first and still the only time a country has embarked on a mobile-first strategy for public transport payments and attempted to replace a much-used closed-loop fare card with a mobile app.
Records of journeys over the past year (see table and charts below), show project backers are making substantial progress.
Denmark Says It’s One-Third of the Way Toward Hitting Goal of Nearly Universal Adoption of Mobile-Ticketing App
When Danish transport officials launched their nationwide mobile-ticketing app last year, they repeated their ambitious–some might say fantastical-projection that use of the GPS-enabled app would one day account for 90% of public transport trips in the country.
Use of the app is still a long way from 90%, but project backers are making progress toward that goal. A spokesperson for Danish transport-ticketing agency Rejsekort & Rejseplan told Mobility Payments that the pay-as-you-go app topped 30% of total trips for the week ending Tuesday of this week.
Conduent Misses Chance to Compete for Danish Validator Contract–by a Millimeter
Denmark’s national ticketing agency, Rejsekort & Rejseplan, or RKRP, last week announced that it and the country’s major transport operators had hired Belgium-based vendor Prodata Mobility to supply around 9,000 new validators, as the agency seeks to replace its aging closed-loop card.
RKRP chose Prodata from among five other vendors, as Mobility Payments reported last week. But Mobility Payments has learned there were actually eight bidders for the eight-year contract, worth a minimum of €16.8 million (US$17.3 million) and a maximum of €32.6 million.
Danish Transport Officials Hire Vendor to Supply Validators for Customers Who Cannot or Will Not Use National Ticketing Apps
Denmark transport-ticketing agency Rejsekort & Rejseplan today announced it had hired a vendor to supply around 9,000 validators to accept a new closed-loop card the agency plans to roll out, with open-loop payments likely coming later.
The validators are for riders who cannot or will not use nationwide mobile-ticketing apps that Rejsekort & Rejseplan and major Danish public transport operators have launched–most notably a pay-as-you-go app that uses GPS technology.
Tip Sheet: Will Conduent Put Its Transit Fare-Collection Business on Sale Again?
Conduent, a major fare-system vendor, may again be shopping for a buyer for its fare-collection business, sources told Mobility Payments, though the company has not announced it is planning to sell the unit, and a spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
The U.S.-based vendor famously did an about-face in 2022, with the company putting its transportation segment out for a possible IPO or sale, only to take the segment off the market after four months.
Unreachable Goal? Denmark Seeks Adoption Rate of 90% for Its National Mobile-Ticketing Services
It’s difficult for an agency retire a long-established closed-loop card, even one with an aging technology and which is expensive to maintain.
But that is precisely what transport officials in Denmark propose to do. And not with open-loop payments or other cards, but with what it hopes will be a wildly popular mobile-ticketing app.
Regulators Question Backers of Denmark’s High-Profile National Mobile-Ticketing App over Data-Protection Concerns
Denmark’s high-profile project to replace its much-used closed-loop fare card with a nationwide mobile-ticketing app has hit another snag–an investigation by the country’s data protection agency.
National transport-ticketing company Rejsekort & Rejseplan, or RKRP, said it is fully cooperating with the investigation into its app by the Danish Data Protection Authority. RKRP customer director Jens Willars told Mobility Payments
Denmark Issues Tender Request for Card Validators for Customers Who Will Not Use Nationwide Mobile-Ticketing App
Danish transport officials this week issued a tender request for vendors to supply validators to accept prepaid closed-loop cards and open-loop payments from customers who cannot or will not use the country’s nationwide mobile-ticketing apps.
The tender request, issued Tuesday, would enable national transport-ticketing company Rejsekort &
Cubic Wins Appeal in Denmark, as Officials Cancel One of the Contracts for National Mobile-Ticketing System
Denmark’s Complaints Board for Public Procurement took the rare step of annulling a contract approved by a public agency, after Cubic Transportation Systems alleged unfair treatment and a lack of transparency by the country’s national ticketing-system provider.
Believed to be a long shot by some, Cubic’s appeal convinced the complaints board on three of its claims, in which the U.S.-based vendor contended that evaluators had erred in grading competing
Denmark Hits First Milestone for National Mobile-Ticketing Service–with Many More Milestones to Go
Denmark’s national transport ticketing system provider announced Tuesday it had hit the first milestone in its project to replace its closed-loop travel card with a GPS-based mobile-ticketing app.
The announcement of the initial launch for up to 20,000 users comes days after the transport-agency owned fare company, Rejsekort & Rejseplan, disclosed that its CEO