Financial transactions between users of the Waltti ticketing and payment system to be automated
The number of journeys made annually in the Waltti ticketing area will be about 200 million, and the revenues generated must be divided between different public transport operators and users based on actual usage. These financial transactions will be automated to allow the Waltti system to serve all parties equally, transparently and cost-efficiently. The first phases of this revenue distribution system will be rolled out in July. Enfo is responsible for providing the service and for developing its automation.
Waltti is already employed in the public transport systems of Joensuu, Jyväskylä, Kajaani, Kouvola, Kuopio, Lahti, Lappeenranta, Mikkeli and Oulu, and the ELY centres of Central Finland, North Ostrobothnia and North Savo. Waltti will reach national coverage by the end of 2018. There are about 160,000 Waltti travel cards in use at present.
The Waltti system enables shared use of the Waltti travel card in different towns and ELY centre areas. The invoicing, settlement and payment of ticket revenues generated by travel transactions require a clearing system. Enfo, a provider of IT and business solutions, will start to build the clearing system for LMJ lippu- ja maksujärjestelmä Oy – an IT services and procurement company jointly owned by municipalities and the state – which is responsible for Waltti’s management. The agreement covers the development, automation and maintenance of the system.
Towards a more transparent and cost-efficient system
In the towns and ELY centre areas using the Waltti system, there are a large number of bus operators whose passengers use the Waltti card. People travel between different towns and municipalities, which means that revenues generated in public transport managed across these must be divided based on the actual number of journeys.
"At present, different urban areas have their own systems for settling ticket revenues. However, the number of travel transactions per year is huge, and so the clearing must also be cost-efficient from the taxpayers' perspective. For this reason, we want to automate the financial transactions and process them cost-efficiently over the whole area. Digitisation is transforming the traffic industry, which makes it important for us to automate the clearing on which the invoicing and payments in public transport are based," says Ilkka Kankkunen, Managing Director of TVV lippu- ja maksujärjestelmä Oy.
Digitalisation of traffic is part of the government policy statement
Automation makes it possible to provide services more cost-efficiently both in private and in the public sector. Building a growth environment for digital traffic services and enabling new innovations and automation are even included in the government policy statement.
"Our goal is to automate the financial transactions of all towns and ELY centres using the Waltti ticketing and payment system and to provide transparent and accurate data to all parties on the realised traffic and money flows. Together with LMJ lippu- ja maksujärjestelmä, we are creating a completely new system in Finland to save the costs and time of different players in the Waltti area," says Osmo Wilska, Senior Vice President of Enfo's Financial Process Services, who is responsible for outsourcing services in financial administration.
For additional information, please contact:
Ilkka Kankkunen, Managing Director, TVV lippu- ja maksujärjestelmä Oy, ilkka.kankkunen@lmj.fi, tel. +358 (0)40 558 5002,
Osmo Wilska, Senior Vice President of Financial Process Services, responsible for outsourcing services in financial administration, Enfo, osmo.wilska@enfo.fi, tel. +358 (0)400 483 567
TVV lippu- ja maksujärjestelmä Oy is an IT services and procurement company jointly owned by municipalities and the State. The company operates in over 20 key urban regions all over Finland. The aim of the company is to procure, develop and maintain the Waltti ticketing and payment system, shared by the competent authorities in public transport. Further information is available at www.lmj.fi and www.waltti.fi .
