To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to outline the timescale under which she will review progress of Translink Future Ticketing System, which was originally scheduled to be in place across bus routes by 2019. .

In 2016 Translink commenced a project to update their ticketing system. The first phase of Translink’s Future Ticketing System was the successful introduction of the off-vehicle Glider Ticketing System in September 2018. In its first year of operation, the Glider ticketing system facilitated a significant increase in ticket sales and passenger numbers over the Metro routes on the same corridors in the previous year.

With rapid advances in ticketing technology, Translink responded in 2019, by further developing the Future Ticketing System specification to upgrade to the most modern technology offering Contactless Credit & Debit Card Payments on bus and train with daily and weekly capping, offering additional benefits to passengers. This required DoF approval for an addendum of the original Business Case following which the Department issued a revised Letter of Offer on 13 November 2019 incorporating the new Accounts Based Ticketing element in the overall project.