Prague

TOTAL SCORE:  71

The Czech capital has long been a favourite with tourists keen to admire the architecture, take in the culture and sup some of the beers for which the city is rightly famous. But it is also starting to make the headlines with its contactless projects.

Contactless readers are in action in the city thanks to the Opencard, issued by Prague City Hall. This smart card can be used to pay parking fees in different zones of the city. It carries prepaid electronic parking vouchers and can also be used as a public transport season ticket. In addition, Opencard allows users to access other services, such as libraries. The contactless system has been delivered via a partnership involving technology provider Haguess, parking specialist Parkeon and Prague City Council. According to Parkeon, an estimated 300 terminals are now in place throughout the city.

Contactless technology is also being used on cell phones in Prague. T-Mobile employees in the city’s Roztyly district are testing Samsung NFC handsets to access the company’s premises, print documents and make payments in the cafeteria. Other companies involved in the trial are Xerox, Alimex and Eurest.

Category	Number	Score
Point of sale terminals/readers deployed	0	0
Different types of contactless device	2	4
Number of contactless devices	1001-5000	40
Number of applications	4	4
Total number of service providers involved	6	6
Number of banks in partnership	0	0
Number of operators in partnership	1	1
Number of merchant locations	1-10	1
Transit operators in scheme	1	1
Parking sector	1	1
Vending	0	0
Entertainment sector – football, leisure, congress etc	0	0
Public sector activities – libraries, schools etc	1	1
Smart poster environments in place	0	0
Marketing campaigns rolled out	1	1
Length of time project implemented	25 months +	4
ROI – future potential	1	1
Green credentials	1000	5
Social equality	0	0
Total		70