The Open Standard for Public Transport (OSPT) Alliance has published Version 2.0 of the CIPURSE Specification, which defines the latest open security standards for next generation, advanced transit fare-collection systems.

The new standard comprises a set of specifications for all security, personalization, administration and life-cycle management functions needed to create a wide range of interoperable transit applications, from single-ride or daily paper tickets to rechargeable fixed-count or weekly plastic tickets to longer-term smart card- or smart phone-based commuter tickets that can also support loyalty and other applications.

For integrators, Version 2.0 means lower development costs and faster time to market, because they can apply a single set of standards to all of their products, from low to high end. For transit operators, CIPURSE V2 offers the potential for greater choice among a larger ecosystem of vendors with lower costs, greater flexibility in designing and implementing fare collection systems and the benefits of open standards like Java Card and GlobalPlatform.

The CIPURSE standard is designed so that it can be easily enhanced in the future with additional functionality and new profiles created to address changes in technology and business. Products based on different profiles can be added to fare collection systems at any time and can be used in parallel to provide transit operators greater flexibility in offering riders a range of transit fare options.