Moscow selects NXP's MIFARE Plus for urban transportation ticketing system

THE NETHERLANDS & RUSSIA: NXP Semiconductors N.V. announced that the Moscow Department of Transport has selected MIFARE Plus for the new "TROIKA" smart card project in order to provide a smooth system migration to higher security.

The new multi-modal card aims to improve the quality of passenger service and make public transport more attractive to use. The Moscow transport network serves an urban area with a population of over 20 million people, and enables over 350 million trips per month.

The new smart card will help passengers to have better, more convenient trips by decreasing one of the biggest problems during Moscow's rush hour: waiting times at cash desks. Travelers can store any type of ticket on the card without fear of expiry, while frequent travelers can benefit from lower costs when using multiple modes of transport.

The contactless card functions with a flexible tariff system, and allows for the future integration of services such as parking, road-tolling, bike rental and in the longer term, mobile ticketing.

"The TROIKA eWallet project is the next step in the evolution of our automatic fare collection system in Moscow, providing passengers with a multi-functional transport card, combining all types of urban transport, with suburban trains and other services such as parking and bike rental to be added in the near future," said Maxim Liksutov, chairman of the Moscow Department of Transport.

"With this new transport card, passengers can benefit from a better and more convenient service by having all types of transport in the Moscow area at their fingertips," added Dmitry Pyankovsky, head of the Automatic Fare Collection Unit at the Moscow Department of Transport.

Customer service will be significantly improved, with 25,000 new topping-up points being introduced across the city to reduce cash desk queues. To ensure improved end-to-end system security, the new readers will contain NXP's reader ICs and MIFARE SAM AV2 for secure key storage and back-end connection to the central server. For passengers, the new distribution channels offer a more flexible way of buying tickets.