Flexus is an electronic ticket

Electronic ticket

An electronic ticket is a digital ticket. It may be issued by an airline, in road, urban or rail public transport, and in entertainment.-Airline ticket:...

 system that was introduced on all public transport

Public transport

Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...

 in Greater Oslo, in 2009. The system may eventually replace all paper tickets on trips with Ruter

Ruter

Ruter As is the public transport authority for Oslo and Akershus, Norway. The company, organized as a limited company is responsible for managing, but not operating, public transport in the two counties, including bus, the Oslo Metro, the Oslo Tramway and ferries...

 (formerly Oslo Sporveier

Oslo Public Transport Administration

AS Oslo Sporveier or the Oslo Public Transport Administration is a municipally owned limited company that is responsible for planning, marketing and organising the public transport in Oslo, Norway...

 and Stor-Oslo Lokaltrafikk

Stor-Oslo Lokaltrafikk

Stor-Oslo Lokaltrafikk AS or SL was the public transport administration for bus and ferry transport in Akershus, Norway from 1973 to 2007. SL was organised as a limited company owned by the Akershus county municipality, the City of Oslo, and the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications,...

) and commuter trains around Oslo operated by the Norwegian State Railways. By the end of 2010, there were 340,000 active cards used by Ruter's customer, an increase from 82,000 in January same year. In 2011, the two companies using the Flexus cards decided to stop using the Flexus name and design, instead using different cards, but still with common technology and equal opportunity to buy the same tickets as before these changes in name and design. The cards are from that year named either NSB-kort for cards produced by NSB or Ruter Reisekortet (Ruter travel card) for cards produced by Ruter.

The goal of the system is to ease and quicken the process of purchasing ticket, create better information about actual travel and reduce non-paying passengers. The system utilises RFID technology on smart card

Smart card

A smart card, chip card, or integrated circuit card , is any pocket-sized card with embedded integrated circuits. A smart card or microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor components. The card is made of plastic, generally polyvinyl chloride, but sometimes acrylonitrile...

s and allows an electronic payment to be made via contactless communication between the card and a verifier. There is also devoped a system of one-time tickets called Impuls. There have been a lot of delays concerning the implementation of the system, that originally was to be taken into use in 2005.

The system is partially copied from the Dutch OV-chipkaart

OV-chipkaart

The OV-chipkaart is a contactless smart card system which is in the process of being introduced on all public transport in the Netherlands, including train, metro, tram and bus...

, where testing with the Thales

Thales

Thales of Miletus was a pre-Socratic Greek philosopher from Miletus in Asia Minor, and one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regard him as the first philosopher in the Greek tradition...

 technology started in Rotterdam

Rotterdam

Rotterdam is the second-largest city in the Netherlands and one of the largest ports in the world. Starting as a dam on the Rotte river, Rotterdam has grown into a major international commercial centre...

 in 2005. It is now fully operational in Rotterdam, Den Haag

The Hague

The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...

 and Amsterdam

Amsterdam

Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...

, and will be gradually introduced in transit systems nationwide in the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. Unlike the OV-chipkaart, Flexus does not provide an electronic purse

Electronic money

Electronic money is money or scrip that is only exchanged electronically. Typically, this involves the use of computer networks, the internet and digital stored value systems...

with flexible fare calculation based on distance traveled - it only provides travel products like weekly and monthly passes that will only be valid in zones specified at time of purchase.