EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The objective of this report is to analyze the recent utilization of the barcode technology in the public transportation ticketing sector in relation to the implications this has for NXP, a global semiconductor and co-inventor of near field communication (NFC) technology. An initial quantitative analysis of the aviation, train and metro ticketing systems revealed the fragmented state of these public transportation ticketing sectors, which employs a variety of mediums with no discernable dominance of on specific medium. Therefore, the further analysis concentrated on the advantages and disadvantages of the barcode technology in relation to NFC, as well as trends and the alignment of system integrators such as Indra, Masabi and SITA. The main advantages the barcode technology offers in contrast to the NFC technology is the easy diffusion due to the fact, that they only require a phone display capable of displaying barcodes and an application or website which enables users to generate a barcode. This market reach is constraint by the lack of a unified barcode ticketing standard. In addition, the transaction speed of barcodes is behind NFC. Security mechanisms prove to be only sufficient, as long as either human inspection or constant connection to back office is provided. NFC based technology on the other hand offers advantages in efficiency and security, which outweigh the advantages of barcodes when it comes to large-scale implementation and general application in other ticketing situations (e.g. museum, theatres) resulting in mitigated ticket fraud and reduce operating costs. The analysis of three major system integrators, Indra and Masabi, which predominantly service metro ticketing systems and SITA the world's leading air transport IT and communications specialist show a trend toward full account based ticketing. Even though, Masabi currently specialize on barcode-based solutions their systems are designed to support NFC-based solutions as well. The orientation toward RFID technology is especially noticeable in SITA’s efforts including a resolution which recommends the use RFID of baggage tags and plans to utilize efficiency gains connected to RFID application during the boarding process. In conclusion, this analysis has yielded the result, that the barcode technology constitutes an interim technology, which facilitates an easy roll out of digital ticketing system for public transport providers that currently can not be matched by the NFC technology due to lacking smartphone compatibility. However, the substantial advantages of efficiency, high scalability and safety NFC has over barcode based systems lead to the conclusion, that the NFC technology is likely to prevail in the long run as a long term sustainable technology. In order to promote this development NXP will have opportunities in the aviation sector, since there is only one system integrator, SITA to reach global prevalence in this market segment. Furthermore, it is beneficial to the three main stakeholders. While the aviation sector can potentially save close to two hundred million US dollars per year due to efficiency gains and lower labor costs, passengers benefit from sharply reduced boarding times.

Cooperation Partner

• NXP Semiconductors
  Mikron-Weg 1
  8101 Gratkorn
  Österreich

Contact Person

• Christoph Zwahlen
  christoph.zwahlen@nxp.com

• André Perchthaler
  andre.perchthaler@nxp.com

Student team

• Blieweis, Andrea

• Gallist, Sina

• Kneisz, Markus

• Schwarz, Martin

• Sha, Siyu

Project-Manager

• Bradonjic, Philip, MSc.

• Mehner, Barbara, MSc.