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york city council
smartcard project

Due to the high volume of Park & Ride passenges, City of York Council (CYC) needed to enhance its Park & Ride services.

The council chose to partner with Cammax because of the company’s expertise in customising hardware and software ticketing solutions, providing Park and Ride passengers with a seamless and efficient user experience.

The initiative initially involved deploying 11 ITSO Smart Outdoor Card Dispensing Kiosks at six key Park & Ride locations across the city. These sites are part of one of the country’s most successful Park & Ride networks.

Challenges

  • High passenger volumes at Park & Ride sites demanded a fast, error-free ticket purchase process
  • The existing systems were not user-friendly enough for peak‐time use, risking delays and customer frustration
  • Ongoing adaptability was required: the Council needed control over future ticket configurations and system updates without relying on vendor modifications

Objectives

  • Improve user experience and operational efficiency with rapid ticket purchase flows
  • Deliver a highly graphical, intuitive interface to help users select and purchase the correct ticket quickly
  • Ensure the solution was easily configurable by the Council in the future, reducing dependency on developer intervention

Cammax Solution

  • Developed and deployed 11 outdoor ITSO smart-card kiosks across six locations to cover all major Park & Ride access points.
  • Implemented a bespoke, graphical interface tailored to the Council’s needs, simplifying ticket selection with clear visuals and instructions.
  • Supported end-to-end testing, in collaboration with First Bus and their electronic ticket machines (ETMs), from product creation through in-field usage and consumption tracking
  • Designed the software for on-site configurability, enabling CYC to manage future changes independently.
  • Introduced the Smart Retail Point (SRP)—a desktop POS application (initially created for SYPTE)—to allow selling or managing smartcards using existing PCs or POS devices
Two blue Park & Ride ticket machines with digital screens stand in a waiting area. Signs on the walls provide fare and service information.

Outcomes

  • Kiosks are now live at key Park & Ride and city centre stops, offering functionality to purchase and check smartcards, including options valid across operators such as First York, Transdev, Cityzap, Coastliner, and “All York” tickets
  • The “York by Bus” smartcard scheme officially launched, allowing passengers to tap and go—streamlining boarding and making bus travel more appealing
  • After initial rollout success, Cammax delivered an additional 5 kiosks in prime city centre locations, delivering a wide range of ticket types
  • Cammax continues to work with the Council to add new ticket products (e.g., First and Transdev tickets) and deliver ongoing upgrades to meet evolving smart ticketing demands

Praise for the new Park & Ride scheme

“The introduction of the ‘York by bus’ smartcard will allow passengers to simply tap and go when they board the bus. We hope that this will make bus travel even more attractive and further boost bus passenger numbers.“
Cllr Ian GilliesExecutive Member for Transport and Planning, CYC
"I think it will make bus travel much easier. People can be a lot more flexible with their tickets and it will make boarding quicker. Rather than having to pay cash for the bus and fumbling for the right coins customers just need to tap and go."
Marc BichemannManaging Director of First Bus York