News / New Shetland Smartcard
SCOTLAND’S first council-run smartcard could be in operation in Shetland next summer after councillors backed the £155,000 scheme.
The Shetland Smartcard will allow people to access libraries, sport and leisure facilities and pay for school meals and bus tickets using a single piece of plastic.
Shetland Islands Council has already won £77,500 match funding from the European LEADER Fund, with a further £20,000 coming from Shetland Recreational Trust. The rest of the cash has been reallocated from other council budgets.
SIC ICT manager Stuart Moncrieff said the card would replace the Young Scot card, the local library card and the Clickimin Leisure Complex card using upgraded technology.
It will also serve as an e-Purse to allow, for example, parents to put money onto the card account for their children’s school meals.
“That way they will know the money will be spent on school meals and won’t be spent on fish and chips,” Mr Moncrieff said.
He added that it could remove the stigma some families feel about taking up benefits such as free school meals by introducing anonymity to the process of paying for them.
The council also believes that by making access easier, the take up of public transport and leisure facilities could increase.
The council is to put the entire project out to tender and hopes that within one year the cards should be distributed around the islands.
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