t:kort is a digital ticket

Digital ticket

A digital ticket is a virtual instance of a ticket which represents the digitization of rights to claim goods or services.-Criteria:A digital ticket must fulfill the following criteria:* Secure...

 used for travel with 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 Nord-Trøndelag

Nord-Trøndelag

is a county constituting the northern part of Trøndelag in Norway. As of 2010, the county had 131,555 inhabitants, making it the country's fourth-least populated county. The largest municipalities are Stjørdal, Steinkjer—the county seat, Levanger, Namsos and Verdal, all with between 21,000 and...

 and Sør-Trøndelag

Sør-Trøndelag

- References :...

, Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

. After its implementation in 2008, t:kort is the only valid ticketing system in the area, valid on bus

Bus

A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

, coach

Coach (vehicle)

A coach is a large motor vehicle, a type of bus, used for conveying passengers on excursions and on longer distance express coach scheduled transport between cities - or even between countries...

, tram

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

 and ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

 transport, but not on train

Train

A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...

s. The ticket is the size of a credit card, and can be charged monthly or as individual tickets.

Use

Users can use a web site to order travel, and charge their card. The tickets allow for month passes or credit pay-as-you-ride. Validation is performed through the contactless 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...

 on onboard validators. Discounts are available for card holders, and increased discounts are available for lines traveled often. Payment with cash is still available on single tickets, but all other paper tickets will be taken out of service by the end of 2008.

The system was developed by the Nord-Trøndelag County Municipality

Nord-Trøndelag county municipality

Nord-Trøndelag County Municipality is the regional governing administration of Nord-Trøndelag, Norway. The main responsibilities of the county municipality includes the running of 12 upper secondary schools, with 7,000 pupils...

 and Sør-Trøndelag County Municipality

Sør-Trøndelag county municipality

Sør-Trøndelag County Municipality is the regional governing administration of Sør-Trøndelag, Norway. The main responsibilities of the county municipality includes the running of 25 upper secondary schools. It administrates the county roadways, public transport, dental care, culture and cultural...

, and launched with the bus companies Gauldal Billag

Gauldal Billag

Gauldal Billag is a Norwegian bus operator operating in the municipalities of Røros, Holtålen and Midtre Gauldal in Sør-Trøndelag. The company also operates express buses to Trondheim and Oppdal and cooperates with Østerdal Billag on a NOR-WAY express bus between Trondheim and Oslo. The company has...

, Klæburuten

Klæburuten

Klæburuten is a Norwegian bus company located in Trondheim. It operates the regional buses in Klæbu and to Trondheim in addition to the Airport Bus from Trondheim to Trondheim Airport, Værnes....

, Nettbuss Trøndelag

Nettbuss

Nettbuss AS is the largest bus company in Norway owned by the Norwegian State Railways . It was until 2000 known as NSB Biltrafikk. The company has 14 operating subsidiaries throughout Norway and in Denmark and Sweden....

, Steinkjerbuss

Steinkjerbuss

Steinkjerbuss AS is a bus company that operates in Steinkjer, Norway on contract with Nord-Trøndelag county municipality. It operates eighteen buses, including both school buses, scheduled buses and the city bus Buster. It also provides chartered buses. The company was founded in 1998 as a merger...

 and Team Trafikk

Team Trafikk

Team Trafikk is the bus company in Trondheim, Norway and is owned by Nettbuss. The company has 225 buses, 600 employees, a revenue of NOK 270 million and a daily ridership of ca 70,000 passengers. The company receives subsidies from the City of Trondheim for their operations...

, the tram company Gråkallbanen and the ferry companies Fosen Trafikklag

Fosen Trafikklag

Fosen Trafikklag is a company operating buses and ferries in Trøndelag and Østlandet in Norway. In total the company has approximately 750 vehicles and 16 ships, though numerous of them operate by subsidiaries.The company is owned by Torghatten ASA-History:...

, Kystekspressen

Kystekspressen

Partsrederiet Kystekspressen ANS branded as Kystekspressen or the Coast Express is a shipping company that operates passenger ferry services between Trondheim and Kristiansund, Norway. Three ships are used on the route, that includes the branch lines Trondheim–Sula and Sistranda–Halten...

 and Namsos Trafikkselskap

Namsos Trafikkselskap

Namsos Trafikkselskap is a public transport company in Trøndelag, Norway. The company operates ferries, local bus services, truck transport and ambulance services...

. They are not valid on the Trøndelag Commuter Rail or other Norges Statsbaner trains.

Development

Initial work with the development of the system was started in 1997, and in 1999 the two county municipalities signed contracts with Q-Free

Q-Free

Q-Free ASA is an electronic toll collection technology development company based in Trondheim, Norway. The company delivers systems for toll collection and automated ticketing globally and is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange.-History:...

 for delivery of the system which was planned to be launched in 2001. By 2006 the issue ended in court, with the counties not willing to pay for the system; they claimed it was not working correctly while the manufacturer felt it did. – after nine years of development before implementation on buses and trams on 1 July 2008, followed by ferries on 1 October 2008. The system was delivered by the Q-Free spin-off Fara, and has been installed on 550 buses and trams.