The city of Istanbul in Turkey, has selected NXP’s Mifare DESFire EV1 contactless microcontroller to power the Automated Fare Collection (AFC) element of its redeveloped public transportation system. The Istanbulkart project, developed by systems integrator Belbim, is one of the largest and most diverse AFC projects within the EMEA region. It unites the city’s different modes of transport – including buses, ferry boats, metro, light metro, trams and overground trains – and enables residents to get around Istanbul using a single travel card. With over 4.5 million Istanbulkarts already deployed the system delivers an improved level of service, as well as a convenient and secure payment model to passengers.

By introducing secure contactless technology to public transport, Istanbul joins more than 650 cities around the world that have improved the efficiency, security and convenience of their transportation systems with NXP's technology, including London, St. Petersburg and Rio de Janeiro.

“The key aim of the Istanbulkart project is to make it easier for all of Istanbul’s residents to travel across the city, regardless of what mode of transport they use. After a successful pilot, the scheme is now available to all of the city’s residents,” said Harun Maden, General Manager of Belbim. “The technology platform is the ideal solution for our AFC project because it supports multiple applications such as the planned City Card concept. Using this platform will enable us to extend Istanbulkart functionality to support other services such as contactless car park payments, cinema access, or taxi payments in the future.” [www.nxp.com]