Final testing of a new single card payment system for nationwide public transport is under way.
The technology, which is similar to London's Oyster Card, will allow travellers to use the one card as a ticket for all means of public transport.
All routes in Scotland will be able to process the card by March, but customers will have to wait until all testing is completed before they can use the system.
Transport Scotland has not given a date for the public launch, but it could be rolled out this year. ScotRail aims to have 60% of journeys paid by smart cards by 2019.
Unlike the Oyster Card, the Scottish version will not offer one price for all modes of transport.
Rail, ferry and bus operators will be able to keep their individual pricing schemes.
Transport Scotland commercial director Bill Reeve said: "The Scottish Government has a clear vision that it should be possible to travel anywhere around Scotland by public transport: by bus, by train, by ferry, by tram, by subway, using one form of smart ticketing.
"I don't know how many cards I've got in my wallet now but I really like the idea of a single card I can use on any piece of public transport rather than having to have a separate one for every means of public transport."
According to Transport Scotland, all barriers and ticket machines are also ready to accept payments via smartphone.
But Mike Peters of Nevis Technologies, which develops smart card systems, said direct payment by phone will not be possible immediately because "the technology of the phone isn't quite there yet, security wise".
He said: "It's very difficult for the phones to get into the secure element and to get ticket wallets in there.
"There's now technologies coming out, but they have only just come out.
"We'll follow that because if it's secure enough for payment then it will be secure enough for transport, but not everybody has a phone that will support that so some people will have their phone and some people will have a smart card."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel