Denmark’s Rejsekort to be replaced by app
Commuters and passengers on Denmark’s public transport networks will soon no longer have to carry the plastic Rejsekort with them to pay for journeys, with a new app planned to supersede the card.
Passengers on Danish buses, trains and Metros will for the first time be able to check in and out of their journeys with an app version of the Rejsekort, starting in 2024.
The long-awaited addition to the Rejsekort will become available to the first passengers during 2024, broadcaster DR reports.
It will initially be possible to choose between the app version and the physical card, but the card will eventually be phased out, director of Rejsekort and Rejseplan, Kasper Schmidt, said to DR.
“We will develop an alternative for customers who don’t have a smartphone so no-one is left at the station,” Schmidt said.
The necessity of using a prepaid card to check in to public transport in Denmark has long been a criticism of Rejsekort.
While the apps of regional operators like DOT, Midttrafik and Sydtrafik can all be used to buy tickets for local services, this is not the case for Rejsekort, which provides cheaper fares than single tickets bought on the operator apps.
The lack of an app also means passengers with credit on the Rejsekort cannot use their credit if they forget or lose the physical card.
The long wait for a Rejsekort app is partly down to its complexity, Schmidt told DR.
“It’s quite complicated to make a solution for this because it needs certain GPS signals,” he said.
“And we have 3.3 million passengers who travel with Rejsekort, so we have prepared this thoroughly,” he said.
The app will cut out the need for passengers to make an additional “check-in” when they switch services – for example, between Metro and bus – during a journey, DR writes.
It will also send a notification reminding passengers to check out and thereby avoid paying an excess fare.
The electronic Rejsekort is used on trains, buses and light rail services across Denmark as well as on the Copenhagen Metro. Users check-in by holding the card over a sensor on platforms or inside buses and must check-out again at the end of their journey.
First launched as a pilot project in 2008, Rejsekort was eventually extended to have national coverage by 2012. It replaced the old-fashioned cardboard klippekort, which was valid for ten journeys with machines inside buses or on platforms punching out a tab on the card each time it was used.
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Passengers on Danish buses, trains and Metros will for the first time be able to check in and out of their journeys with an app version of the Rejsekort, starting in 2024.
The long-awaited addition to the Rejsekort will become available to the first passengers during 2024, broadcaster DR reports.
It will initially be possible to choose between the app version and the physical card, but the card will eventually be phased out, director of Rejsekort and Rejseplan, Kasper Schmidt, said to DR.
“We will develop an alternative for customers who don’t have a smartphone so no-one is left at the station,” Schmidt said.
The necessity of using a prepaid card to check in to public transport in Denmark has long been a criticism of Rejsekort.
While the apps of regional operators like DOT, Midttrafik and Sydtrafik can all be used to buy tickets for local services, this is not the case for Rejsekort, which provides cheaper fares than single tickets bought on the operator apps.
The lack of an app also means passengers with credit on the Rejsekort cannot use their credit if they forget or lose the physical card.
The long wait for a Rejsekort app is partly down to its complexity, Schmidt told DR.
“It’s quite complicated to make a solution for this because it needs certain GPS signals,” he said.
“And we have 3.3 million passengers who travel with Rejsekort, so we have prepared this thoroughly,” he said.
The app will cut out the need for passengers to make an additional “check-in” when they switch services – for example, between Metro and bus – during a journey, DR writes.
It will also send a notification reminding passengers to check out and thereby avoid paying an excess fare.
The electronic Rejsekort is used on trains, buses and light rail services across Denmark as well as on the Copenhagen Metro. Users check-in by holding the card over a sensor on platforms or inside buses and must check-out again at the end of their journey.
First launched as a pilot project in 2008, Rejsekort was eventually extended to have national coverage by 2012. It replaced the old-fashioned cardboard klippekort, which was valid for ten journeys with machines inside buses or on platforms punching out a tab on the card each time it was used.
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