This is open to all reader and terminal manufacturers, and system integrators active within the contactless market (for example transit, loyalty and access control) to assist the industry in its move towards the next generation of secure, cost-effective and open fare collection solutions.

The new membership category has been established in response to increasing enquiries from manufacturers and integrators as the market witnesses increasing requests for open standards in transit.

Companies joining OSPT Alliance at the new membership level will receive:
• Full access to the CIPURSE™ Specification, OSPT Alliance’s open standard
• The right to implement CIPURSE on the transmitting level
• A significantly reduced cost of membership
• The benefit of no royalties to pay when implementing on the transmitting level
• Participation in one of OSPT Alliance’s sub-working groups
• Use of word and picture trademarks in line with the OSPT Alliance Articles of Association

“OSPT Alliance is driving the adoption of open standards by encouraging CIPURSE integration and promoting infrastructure availability,” comments Laurent Cremer, Executive Director of OSPT Alliance. “In listening to the market, we recognized the importance of creating a platform to encourage and simplify engagement by terminal manufacturers and system integrators to ensure system component readiness and the availability of integration services locally.”

OSPT Alliance already offers two levels of membership: Full membership, which is open to all companies that plan to develop commercial products based on CIPURSE; and Associate membership, which is available to transit agencies, industry associations involved in transit, universities and research institutions with an interest in public transport, solution and service providers, and system integrators.

In addition, any company that is interested in creating a product / solution based on CIPURSE may become an Evaluator to evaluate whether the standard is suitable for their needs before joining as a Full member.

Laurent continues: “As the appetite within the transit industry to collaborate to deliver better, simpler, more efficient and more convenient services to consumers continues to grow, it is more important than ever that there is a common platform on which to do so. I encourage any stakeholder with an interest in fare collection solutions to join the association to influence the CIPURSE standard and contribute to the direction of the transit market in the future.”