The CeKR city card will be among the most advanced in the world
The CeKR city card will be among the most advanced in the world
The City of Kranj (CoK) today presented how, after a year of intensive development, the vision of the City Card of Kranj is progressing. The card is being developed in cooperation with NLB and its partners - Visa and the companies Bankart, Rekona, Avera and Ridango. Currently, its functionalities are being tested in practice by a narrower group of users, access to a wider range of city services is being integrated into its system, and the first agreements are already underway with public institutions and private providers to set up a benefits rating system.
The City of Kranj (CoK) is one of the leading Slovenian municipalities in digital transformation. The goal of becoming an innovative, smart and climate-neutral city is one of the most important strategic objectives of the CoK, and even more binding since 2022, when the European Commission selected Kranj for the Mission 100 Climate Neutral and Smart Cities 2030. To achieve the goals, including reducing carbon dioxide emissions, increasing mobility, changing people's habits - to live comfortably but with less consumption of resources - it is therefore essential to develop digital and sustainable solutions and advanced tools for efficient action planning and thus better city management. One of the major projects of this kind in the CoK is the City Card system.
At today's event, the Mayor of Kranj, Matjaž Rakovec, president of the board of NLB d.d., Blaž Brodnjak, and Alenka Mejac Krassnig, Country Manager for Slovenia, Visa, presented the development of the card over the last year and the challenges they had to face in realising the vision of this pioneering project. There is no such card in Slovenia so far, and when it will be fully functional, it will be among the more advanced ones at the level of developed smart cities.
A city card that can do much more
The City of Kranj card, called CeKR, allows users to pay for services and goods anywhere in the world or online, in addition to identifying the user. It is a prepaid payment card based on the Visa international payment system, while NLB, d.d., has ensured its correct, secure, legal and compliant functioning. Hence the name of the card: after the crest, the utensil in which we carry our chosen goods, but at the same time the name is a composite of 'Ce' and 'KR', which stands for Central/Integrated Kranj, and indicates the connection of different sectors and services such as urban transport, energy, health and education, and the creation of a connected and efficient urban environment.
It features fresh graphics - some of the key geographical and architectural features of our city - and, as the CoK is a municipality tailored to the needs of people with disabilities, the city card is designed to be easy to use for people who are blind or partially sighted.
In addition, Kranj will go further than the existing city cards and will partner with private providers in this project and develop a benefits rating system together with public institutions. The first agreements at this level are already underway, and the ambition is to bring together the various stakeholders in the municipality and to make it possible to offer a coherent offer between them. This will bring benefits for card holders when using municipal and other services, primarily to motivate their daily sustainable actions, to increase the number of visitors in provider's shops and places, thus revitalising the old town centre and, last but not least, to stimulate the local economy. The CeKR will also try to increase the use of urban transport by charging for transport services according to the so-called "fair price" principle, i.e. by charging the most favourable fare.
In synergy with the digital platform
The two key functionalities of the card - payment and identification - will be further integrated in the digital platform "Smart Kranj". In addition to the management of the CeKR card (uploading funds, monitoring the status of the credit rating programme, current offers, etc.), it will also provide a variety of information, for example, on the state of the environment and events in Kranj, timetables, information on the availability of city bicycles, free parking spaces, tools for planning (sustainable) routes, it will also enable effective two-way communication between the city administration and citizens, and, like the city card, new content and functionality will be added to the card.
Matjaž Rakovec, Mayor of Kranj: »We are doing something great and unique. We will learn a lot from this and I believe that our model can be a model for other municipalities and cities, also outside Slovenia. Recently, at a discussion organised by the US Embassy in Slovenia and Visa, it was said that Kranj's smart card project is unique in Europe and one of the few such ambitious projects in the world. And whoever breaks new ground must also be prepared for many challenges. There have been, of course, and there are likely to be more. But we have managed to build a solid card framework on which we can now start to apply content. The payment and identification functions are working smoothly, with integration into the CeKR system currently underway for some city services, and for others we are already at the end of the line as the terminals are being installed. Once we have connected the most used city services to the city card system, we will first offer it to Kranj citizens. We plan for it to arrive with spring.«
Blaž Brodnjak, CEO of NLB, d. d.: »First of all, I would like to thank the City of Kranj for their trust and congratulate them for their visionary work in the field of digital transformation. We are nearing the end of a challenging project that can only be successfully implemented with the help of our partners, and I would like to thank them especially for their cooperation so far. I am convinced that the CeKR card will make it even easier for residents and visitors to Kranj to use public infrastructure, whether it is public bus transport, renting electric bikes and cars, paying parking fees or using libraries. NLB Group's ambition is to take this type of solution to other Slovenian municipalities and even beyond Slovenia's borders, including other regions where NLB Group operates.«
Alenka Mejač Krassnig, Country Manager for Slovenia, Visa: »The City of Kranj and its inhabitants will soon have a better life. Among other things, with CeKR, Kranj is joining a global network of cities where users can pay for public transport rides with a payment card thanks to Visa technology. Visa's experience in European markets shows that digital pay-as-you-go solutions bring an increase in both passenger numbers and public transport journeys. For public transport operators, they bring cost reductions, operational efficiencies and, indirectly, digital payments in public transport also help to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. In fact, where public transport journeys can be paid for by card, more and more individuals are opting for this mode of transport. The positive impact of contactless payments is thus being extended to the wider economy, as the overall quality of urban mobility is being improved. The digitalisation of payments in public passenger transport not only improves urban mobility, but also lays the foundations for a wider take-up of digital payments in other mobility services such as parking, charging electric vehicles and shared urban transport services such as car sharing, electric scooter or bicycle rental.«
Photo by Borut Cvetko/Mediaspeed