The Mallorca Transport Consortium inaugurates a new GMV-technology ticketing system for the public transport of the Balearic Isles

October 5 saw the first run of the new STI-R4 fare system of the Mallorca Transport Consortium (Consorcio de Transportes de Mallorca), which takes in the collective public transport of all the Balearic Islands (Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera) and allows across-the-board fare management of all the islands’ collective means of transport (bus, train and metro). This project, a trailblazer in Spain and a beacon in Europe, has been made possible by the technology multinational GMV, winner of the public tender for supply of the fare system’s technological components.

The beneficiaries of this new system are the Balearic Islands’ various transport authorities, such as the Consorcio de Transportes de Mallorca (CTM), the Empresa Municipal de Transportes de Palma (EMT Palma), the Consell Insular de Menorca (CIME), the Consell Insular de Ibiza, the Consell Insular de Formentera (CIF), the Palma Metro and Mallorca’s railway network called Servicios Ferroviarios de Mallorca (SFM).

GMV has rolled out the new comprehensive, multimodal fare system in the public transport of the Balearic Isles, and will also be providing technical assistance for the first three years of operation. The technological equipment supplied for this purpose is a blend of two technologies: contactless bankcard payment and smartcards (habitually used public-transport contactless cards), including the EMV payment service in collaboration with Redsýs and Banco Santander and incorporating all the advantages of a cloud-hosted account-based ticketing (ABT) system.

In the 411 interurban buses of all the Balearic Islands and in the 200 buses of Palma’s urban service, GMV will be fitting a total of 611 desks and 1652 dual EMV/Smartcard validators, plus 1247 video-surveillance cameras and 543 inside information panels. GMV has additionally seen to the EMV-enabling of 238 ticket barriers in metro and train stations.

GMV has also incorporated into this system its groundbreaking Deepsy^® platform, which has enabled CTM to develop its own vendor-independent onboard ticketing software. Furthermore, in the particular case of the buses of the Municipal Transport Company (Empresa Municipal de Transportes) of Palma de Mallorca, GMV has developed the entire onboard ticketing software.

For the management of bankcard payment GMV has supplied an end-to-end payment solution that adapts EMV technology to the new comprehensive fare system. Thanks to an agreement reached with Redsýs, as supplier of the payment platform, and Banco Santander, as service procurer, GMV has made it possible to blend in a single system the traditional smartcard-based payment system (farecards) with the new EMV contactless bankcard payment system.

The incorporation of the EMV payment standard allows any would-be passenger with a physical or cellphone-virtual bankcard to access the public transport system directly without any need for previous registration or ticket purchase and in the certainty that a post-payment system will guarantee him or her the most favorable fare in accordance with the actual use made of the public-transport system. The new system will also harden security in card-terminal transactions, since the EMV card validates transactions on the basis of the information stored in its chip.

In the words of Miguel Ángel Martínez, general manager of GMV’s Intelligent Transportation Systems sector, «the incorporation of EMV technology together with CTM’s unflinching determination to set up a cutting-edge system make this a pioneering project in Spain and a benchmark in Europe. It likewise stands as a shining example of public-private collaboration, which we now hope to replicate in other regions».

Peli Barrenechea Zabala, GMV’s Project Head, adds «the success of this project has been made possible by the close collaboration between CTM’s technology and IT personnel, whom we would like to thank here for their constant support».