Ticketing Software Development for a Public Transport Software Vendor

About the Client

ATRON Systems is a European market leader in software and hardware solutions for the public transport industry. Its branch, ATRON Systems Sweden AB, previously used their ticketing solution. However, in recent years Samtrafiken – a joint venture of the public transport authorities in Sweden – introduced a new ticketing and payment standard–Biljett- och Betalstandar (BoB).

Challenge

ATRON Systems Sweden AB urgently needed technical assistance to achieve compliance with the changes and contacted Edvantis because we had immediately available Software Engineers, who were familiar with the new standard.

Overview of the BoB Standard

The BoB standard was introduced to create seamless ticketing and payment for Swedish public transport. Its purpose is to: 

• Improve interoperability between different public transport authorities
• Achieve unification of machine-readable mobile ticket-issuing systems
• Enable the aggregation of tickets from multiple transport companies into a single ticket

Solution

After scoping the project, Edvantis provided a Tech Lead and four Backend Developers. The team was briefed to create BoB-compatible backend architecture, using an existing software engine.

Edvantis took the following steps:

• Created a backend engine following the BoB mobile ticket specifications
• Conducted integration testing for comprehensive quality assurance on all ticketing features 
• Adapted the Client’s previous CI/CD pipeline to better support the new backend solution.

Further, the Edvantis team integrated a number of APIs into the ticketing system, enabling:

• interoperability between different hardware systems according to predefined rules 
• creation of product price lists 
• ticket orders and verification using electronic signatures 
• management of updated information in the Participant Meta Database Device to provide protection against copying 
• a ticket validation device able to submit completed inspection reports 
• management of the new backend engine

Results

The BoB standard, an innovative concept in the public transport market, continues to evolve in terms of requirements. The rapid set up of the project by Edvantis made ATRON Systems the front runner among other public transport authorities in the Swedish market. 

The backend engine can be used for interfaces of any ticketing device in public transport, such as purchasing tickets through unattended terminals, conductor-attended handheld devices, mobile apps, or websites.