InnoBaltica has signed an agreement with a consortium of Asseco Data Systems and AEP Ticketing Solutions for the implementation of the Fala integrated mobility services platform. Passengers will be able to use the first solutions of the integrated toll collection system throughout the entire Pomeranian Voivodeship in the middle of next year.
The contract was concluded on June 14. – Thanks to this system, a platform will be created that will integrate public transport in the voivodeship, both rail transport and buses, trams and trolleybuses of public transport. For the task, we obtained PLN 90 million in subsidies from European Union funds. Passengers will use ticket machines and card readers, smartphones and QR codes with which we will equip all vehicles and many platforms and transfer nodes. The system will guide passengers to pay the lowest price for their trip and then settle it between individual organizers – says Piotr Borawski, vice president of Gdańsk.
- The Fala system is a project that has never been in Poland before. One electronic platform will connect the railway network and public transport throughout the Pomeranian Voivodeship. Payment for journeys will be based on the application and a special transport and payment card as well as a network of validators, i.e. communication readers – says Marcin Stefański, president of InnoBaltica.
As part of the Fala system, a platform will be prepared in which passenger accounts will be created. It is assumed that ultimately it will be approximately 2.5 million accounts. The system will also contain information on ticket prices, timetables, routes for buses, trams, trolleybuses and trains – so as to ensure the settlement of a huge number of transport services at any time of public transport. The application will allow you to automatically settle passenger journeys thanks to a network of validators (readers), which will be located in buses, trams, trolleybuses, and at railway stations and stops.
The passenger, when boarding the vehicle, will be obliged to “check in” by holding the identifier, eg of his card or smartphone, to the validator or by checking in the application. The idea behind the designers of the Fala was the slogan “get in and go” – I don’t need to know the ticket prices, and I will bear the lowest possible costs anyway. The system will take into account my discounts, select the best ticket price and, if possible, combine tickets in such a way as to give the lowest possible amount. When traveling with Fala, both a resident of Pomerania and a tourist will be able to count on hints about available better connections during the route, which will increase his guarantee of reaching the place in the assumed time.
What is very important – the new system will operate not only in the Tri-City or the metropolis. It will also cover communication in smaller Pomeranian cities – also on the outskirts of the voivodeship. And it must be remembered that smaller centers do not have the financial capacity to implement such innovative projects on their own. Their communication systems are also usually not covered by the developers of commercial applications.
- We are glad that we were selected to implement such an innovative project as the Fala system. We will make every effort to provide the inhabitants of Pomerania with a solution, together with our proven consortium, AEP Ticketing Solutions, that will increase the comfort of using public transport throughout the voivodeship. We have extensive experience in the implementation of complex large-scale IT projects, and our systems are used by over 200 local governments in Poland. We are also a provider of digital urban infrastructure solutions and toll collection systems, and we will use all this experience in the implementation of the Fala project – says Andrzej Dopierała, CEO of Asseco Data Systems.
The final schedule of the task will be adopted within one month from the date of signing the contract, but it is already known today that passengers will be able to use the first functionalities of the Fala system in the middle of next year. It is to be fully functional in 2023.