Wiltshire Council is set to debate a motion to begin developing a smart card for the county which will be used to pay for public transport, parking library charges and leisure activities.
The ‘One Card’ for Wiltshire will enable people to access public services and make payments including car parking charges quickly without having to worry about having the correct amount of money available.
The cards will be chargeable at local pay points, much like an Oyster card is used in London.
Westbury Town and Wiltshire Councillor Gordon King has been working on this idea with Wiltshire Councillor Magnus McDonald and will be seconding the motion at the full council meeting on Tuesday 29th July.
Cllr King said, “Having a card that would allow me to pay for car parking, make a journey by bus or train, pay library charges and pay for a leisure time activity, will join services up, give me greater control, make things simple and enable me to get on with the next thing on my itinerary and encourage me to do these things more often. This would be an incredible benefit to Westbury and Wiltshire residents.
“This “swipe and go card” will make public services including public transport services attractive and accessible to more people than now, whilst reducing cost at the same time.
“Revenue collection and handling is perhaps the single most expensive element in providing services, including car parking services and the ‘One Card’ will help in the process of reducing the cost. It will also enable service providers including Wiltshire Council to be innovative in terms of the type and cost of services. For instance, removing cash from the cost of car parking will enable Wiltshire Council to introduce a system of charges based on allocating parking time according to the amount of money you want to pay, which by itself will go a long way in righting the historic wrong of overcharging for car parking through not providing change.
“The technology to make this work already exists. It has cross-party support at national level and variations of it is already being rolled out in urban communities. There are regional advisory bodies and capital funding advice is available.
“We have worked closely with council officers in developing our plan and it meets most of the council’s business plan objectives.
“We are therefore asking Wiltshire Council to create a policy development working party to investigate the feasibility of making Wiltshire the first rural county to adopt and then benefit from this technology.
“We do not expect Wiltshire Council to run before it can walk or bite off more than it can chew; so we do not object to a phased introduction either by area or service if that is what is necessary; provided they take the first necessary steps in a journey to joining together technology and public service delivery in the 21st century.
“The working party will also be asked to look at ways to enable people who come into Wiltshire to shop or because they are on holiday, to either purchase a temporary “One Card” or pay for services via their debit/credit card or by using their phone.”
Cllr Magnus Macdonald, Wiltshire Lib Dem’s spokesperson for transport and highways said, “Wiltshire has the chance to move into the 21st century. A smartcard will allow residents to pay for what they use when they use it, while also reducing the cost of storing and transporting money at car parks and on buses.”
“We have a chance to deliver fairer fares for Wiltshire and I really hope the council takes this opportunity.
“It could right the wrong of our council being the biggest change cheat in the country and stop them taking hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of change out of the pockets of Wiltshire residents. It also gives us opportunities to expand its use in the future.”
Leader of Wiltshire’s Lib Dems cllr Jon Hubbard agrees, adding, “This is the sort of joined up strategic thinking that our council should be doing. We need to be bold in Wiltshire and take on the challenge of developing something that I believe will really benefit local residents.”
