Rejsekort

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Rejsekort (Official translation: TRAVEL CARD) is a future, electronic ticket system for public transport in Denmark. The system is a collaborative work between DSB, HUR, Ørestadsselskabet, and various regional bus companies, and work on it started on August 18, 2003. In June 2005, the Thales Group and Accenture were chosen as the providers of it.

It is expected that the Rejsekort system will be tested in 2007, opened east of Great Belt in 2008, and implemented nation-wide by 2009. The total cost of the system will be between €200 and €270 million.

[edit] Overview

The system will replace the current zone ticket system. Instead, fares will be calculated from the distance made from the beginning of the journey to the end, as the crow flies, so as to give a better correlation between price and distance travelled. Like the current system, the Rejsekort will work universally for trains, buses, and metros.

Either a superpersonal, a personal, or an anonymous card will be issued to passengers. The superpersonal card will have a picture of the owner on it, and only the owner will be able to use it. The personal card will be attached to an owner, but everyone will be able to use it, e.g. groups. The anonymous card will not be attached to an owner. The card must be checked in at a card reader at the start and the end of a journey, and the system will automatically calculate the price of the journey; failure to do so will result in a fine. The money is deducted from a pre paid account; alternatively, a card can be signed up for a payment scheme so that the money is automatically deducted from the holder's bank account. The more trips a passenger makes per month, the less money each trip will cost. The current discount system works that way, too; however, this system is limited to a set amount of zones – the new discount system will apply nation-wide.

There will be no ticket gates at stations, because it would lead to closing many smaller entrances, and thus it would take longer time to check in; it has also been decided that the current punch card system, which does not have gates, works fine.

It is expected that Scania in Sweden will implement a system akin to the Danish. Therefore, the Rejsekort system will be prepared to work with the Scanian, so as to allow passengers to easily travel over the Oresund Bridge.