Week in the Life of a Football Supporter with a Residents Smartcard.
Part 6 of 8

Saturday

Today is a top of the table clash and Sam is taking his son, Thomas, to the game this is Thomas’ first game of the season. Sam and Thomas drive to the town centre Sam parks the car in a council managed Pay and Display car park as a resident of the borough Sam is entitled to a discount on parking charges Sam presents the card to the parking machine and receives his discount.
Then Sam takes Thomas to the Club Shop in town centre and redeems some of the loyalty points he has been accruing and receives a home shirt for Thomas.

It is still early and Sam takes Thomas to the local museum to research a topic that Thomas is studying at school. The “Residents and Supporters” smart card entitles Sam to a half price entry but as there is no card reader in the museum Sam simply shows his card. This type of “Show n Go” discount scheme operates in a number of places in the town also and helps local small businesses, this initiative is backed by the councils local regeneration scheme.

Then Sam goes to a local shop that is a Pay Point agent to pay his Rent and Council Tax as he does not have a direct debit set up. At the shop Sam pays cash but presents his “Residents and Supporters” smart card to the reader to identify him and allocate the funds to the right amounts to the correct Rent and CTax accounts.

It is now time for Sam and Thomas to go to the stadium and as it is close and a sunny day they decide to hire one of the public cycles in the town. The Sam knows that the football club are part of this “Fit 4 Life” initiative operated by the Council and backed by the local PCT as it is part of the Football Clubs “Green Travel Plan”. At the automated cycle store Sam presents his “Residents and Supporters” smart card to the reader and releases an adults cycle for himself and does the same for a junior cycle for Thomas. They both cycle 2 miles to the stadium where they store and lock the cycles in a storage facility located in the stadia car park and is similar to the one in town. The locking mechanism is also operated by the “Residents and Supporters” smart card, which if applicable is also used for payment but not in this case as the system recognises that Sam is entitled to free use.

Sam takes Thomas to the ticket office to buy him a match day ticket. He presents his “Residents and Supporters” smart card to collect the loyalty points but he pays for the ticked cash. When the ticket office take Thomas’ personal details for the ticket purchase they see that although this is his first match this season, he did attend 6 matches last season and travelled to an away FA Cup tie with the Official Supporters Club. They offer Thomas the chance to join the Junior Supporters Club with discounts and his own supporters card. As Sam is already a “Residents and Supporters” smart card holder and for a limited time the Junior Supporters Club Membership is free. Thomas does apply and Sam is given an immediate discount on Thomas’ match day ticket.

Sam and Thomas the go to the turnstiles they both enter the stadium Sam with the “Residents and Supporters” smart card and Thomas with his own barcoded ticket. In the stadium Sam buys them both a drink and a burger using the closed e-purse on the “Residents and Supporters” smart card as again that queue is much shorter than the cash queue.

Sam and Thomas watch the first half during which Sam gets a text message welcoming Thomas to the Junior Supporters Club and giving a promotional code for Thomas, 2 friends and a responsible adult to have a free stadium tour. All Thomas has to do is have his parents complete an online form with names, addresses and ages of the 4 people attending the tour. Sam also tops up his e-purse on his “Residents and Supporters” smart card by text message. Then at half time Both Sam and Thomas get a cold drink from the kiosk where Sam again uses the closed e-purse on the “Residents and Supporters” smart card and is served very quickly.

After the match friend Sam uses the “Residents and Supporters” smart card to unlock the cycles for the ride back to town to collect the car.

At home Sam registers himself Thomas and 2 friends for the tour using the promotional code in the text message and as he is a “Residents and Supporters” smart card he will be given Loyalty Points if anyone in the party purchases anything and if they become season ticket holders Sam and Thomas will be invited to meet their favourite player. Sam then checks his loyalty account and sees a total of 225 new points from the purchases and entering the stadium early. (16)

THE END

If you want to see what Sam can do with the "Residents and Supporters" smartcard during the rest of his week follow, then us on Twitter http://twitter.com/SmartStadia and you will get a tweet when each day goes live.