NXP to power transport card project in Russia

The Podorozhnik - a unified electronic transport card - has been introduced in St. Petersburg to provide passengers with a convenient transport payment system. The project is a joint effort by the City Transport Committee of St. Petersburg, NXP and AFC solution providers for ground and underground transportation, including ZAO “MF-Tarif,” an NXP MIFARE Plus-based transport card manufacturer, along with SMARTRAC, a global inlay manufacturer. The unified transport card with integrated eWallet allows access to all public transportation systems in St. Petersburg. It supports future integration of additional operators such as suburban trains, road-tolling systems, parking lots and water transport. “The implementation of a unified transport card project based on NXP's MIFARE Plus technology in one of Russia's largest cities is a significant achievement for NXP and our partners,” said Henri Ardevol, vice president and general manager, secure transactions, NXP Semiconductors. “We see increasing demand for contactless technology in Russia and the other CIS states. Major operators such as the Moscow Metro already use our MIFARE technology, and our MIFARE Plus solution is powering ground transportation in Sochi, host of the 2014 Winter Olympics. St. Petersburg's AFC system is an excellent example of a large-scaled MIFARE Plus-based project implementation. It confirms, once again, that the MIFARE technology platform provides system integrators with the flexibility to create an AFC system respecting the individual needs of the customer, while offering a clear upgrade path to increased levels of security and privacy when required", he continued. The pilot of the unified Podorozhnik transport card based on MIFARE Plus technology took place in St Petersburg in January 2011. Mass roll-out of the system started in May 2011. In total, the system will serve more than four million residents and more than one million tourists daily.