Results: RFID and Identity Management in everyday life - ITAS

Case #123: VRR/VRS
Case ID #123, Level 1
Title VRR/VRS
Researcher Christian van ‘t Hof/ Sil Wijma/Eefje Vromans
Timing 2003
Geography Germany, region of North-Rhine-Westphalia
Environment public transport
Technology ASK MV5100 dual-interface contactless smartcards
Contactless mode for transit applications (RFID), contacted mode for e-purse application (chip)
Costs RFID Implementation costs: € 33million [6]
Maturity Fully operational
Function Payment
Owner Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr (VRR) and Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Sieg (VRS)
Maintainer Card.etc AG (general contractor) and KompetenzCenter EFM (Automatic fare collection) [?]
Users Travellers
Other actors • Transport operators: VRR and VRS represent 54 different transport operators
• Card supplier: ASK S.A.
• VDV (the association of public transport in Germany) [1]
• Foebud e.V. (Verein zur Förderung des öffentlichen bewegten und unbewegten
Datenverkehrs e.V)
Case story The VRR and VRS are using RFID in trains and busses in the region of North-Rhine-Westphalia
in Germany. VRR and VRS, representing 54 different transport operators, cover an area with a
total population of 10.6 million inhabitants. VRR, with an extensive bus and rail network, handles
1.1 billion passengers per year. The main cities are Bochum, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Duisburg,
Essen, Oberhausen and Mulheim. VRS handles over half a billion passengers per year. The
major cities are Bergisch, Gladbach, Bonn, Cologne (Koln) and Euskirchen. This is Germany's
first and Europe's largest rollout of smart cards in public transport [1].
In January 2003 the first RFID cards have been sent to yearly and monthly ticket holders.
Eventually the VRR/VRS want to use different kind of tickets: the e-Ticket, e-Purse and e-Market
[1].
The main advantage of the e-Tickets is that travellers don’t have to buy a ticket anymore. A card
reader which is placed in the bus or train registers where the cardholder gets on and off. At the
end of the month the costumer gets the bill [4].
By using RFID in public transport it becomes possible to track person’s movements [2]. But
according to VRS only the relevant data necessary for the validity of the card are stored on the
chip: name, validity-date and “zone-validity”. No travel details or more personal data are stored
[3]. Customers can even choose if they want to pay with a personalised credit card or an
anonymous debit card [4]. The card has a Paycard-symbol which guarantees that fraud and
misuse of data is minimized [3].
Though, on the internet people discuss how to abuse the tickets [2]. Another source states that
in a clothes store in Neuss the data of school kids carrying a ‘schoko-ticket’ were accidently read
out in clear text [5]
ID issue By using RFID in public transport it becomes possible to track person’s movements [2].
Sources [1] . RFIDnews.org (2003) ‘ASK Delivers 1.7 Million Contactless Cards for Largest Transit Smart
Card Project in Europe’, 21 May 2003 (http://www.rfidnews.org/news/2003/05/21/askdelivers-17-million-contactless-cards-for-largest-transit-smart-card-project-in-europe/,
visited 25 July 2006).
[2] http://www.foebud.org/rfid/en/where-find#fahrkarten (visited 06 September 2006)
[3] http://www.vrsinfo.de/25598.php (visited 10 September 2006)
[4] http://www.breitband-nrw.de/download/050407/20050407-Megger.pdf (visited 10 September
2006)
[5] http://www.foebud.org/rfid/en/faq-english
[6]http://www.brd.nrw.de/BezRegDdorf/autorenbereich/Dezernat_63/PDF/RFID261005.pdf
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