UiTPAS and the social tariff

With UiTPAS somebody on a low income can come to your activity at a heavily reduced price, and the council contributes a share. This article explains what UiTPAS is, how your organisation joins it, how you set up the connection in Passavo, and what exactly happens when a visitor types in their pass number.

What UiTPAS is

UiTPAS is a savings and benefits card for leisure activities in Flemish cities and municipalities. It is managed by publiq vzw. A resident of an UiTPAS municipality can get the card free of charge or for a small price and uses it at the arts centre, the sports club, the library or the museum.

The card does two things.

1. Collecting points. On every visit the holder collects points, which they can exchange for a benefit: a drink, a discount, a free ticket.
2. The social tariff. Anyone entitled to an increased allowance in their municipality discreetly gets a heavily reduced rate on UiTPAS activities in their own UiTPAS region.

That second one is what this article is about, because money is attached to it that does not come from the visitor.

How the social tariff is paid for

The starting point of UiTPAS is that the visitor on the social tariff pays 20 per cent of the ticket price. The remaining 80 per cent is shared: 40 per cent for you as the organiser and 40 per cent for the local authority. So you bear part of the discount yourself, and you claim back the council's part.

Note: that is the general starting point of UiTPAS. Regions and municipalities may make other arrangements about percentages, reimbursement and about which activities take part. So always check what applies for your region before you set anything up.

Who is entitled to the social tariff is decided by the municipality and not by you. At the desk you should not even ask about it: the pass says so itself, and that is deliberately how it has been made, so that nobody has to explain at a counter that money is tight.

How your organisation joins

Passavo can only do something once you are registered with publiq as an UiTPAS organiser. You arrange that outside this system.

1. Check whether your municipality is an UiTPAS municipality. You can find the regions at uitpas.be. If your municipality is not among them, you cannot offer UiTPAS yet; the initiative then lies with the local authority, which can join a neighbouring UiTPAS region.
2. Get in touch with the UiTPAS organisation for your region. That is the route publiq itself points suppliers to in a municipality that already takes part. Usually that is your city or municipality's leisure or culture department.
3. Make the arrangements. Which activities take part, which rate applies, how and when the council's share is reimbursed.
4. You are registered as an UiTPAS organiser. From that follow the details you need below: an organizer ID and the API details with which Passavo may knock on publiq's door on your behalf.
5. Get your activities ready. Every activity gets an event ID of its own at publiq, and you need that ID per product.

Note: the exact procedure differs per municipality. Some regions work with an application form of their own, others with a conversation and an agreement. So always start at your own municipality or at publiq through publiq.be or uitpas.be, and not with us. We cannot supply you with an organizer ID or keys.

What you need beforehand

• The Owner role: only that role may set up external passes.
• Your UiTPAS organizer ID from publiq.
• Your client ID and client secret from publiq.
• Products of the type Event or Series: only there can you fill in a UiTPAS event id.
• Per product that takes part: the UiTPAS event ID.
• About a quarter of an hour, plus the time publiq needed to register you.

Two things that are different from an ordinary discount

1. Publiq's api decides about the entitlement, not us. Passavo does not work out a rate itself and does not remember who is entitled. Whoever is entitled today may be different tomorrow, and a remembered "yes" is a council paying for somebody without an entitlement.
2. A cancellation has to reach publiq too. A ticket sale that stays standing there while the ticket has been reversed with us counts towards the settlement — and that is only noticed a year later.

Step 1 — Setting up the connection

1. In the menu on the left, under the heading Settings, click External passes. Don't see that menu item? Then you don't have the Owner role; ask whoever created the organisation.
2. Switch on We accept UiTPAS with the social tariff.
3. Fill in your UiTPAS organizer ID. You find it in your UiTdatabank account, with your organisation.
4. Fill in your Client ID and Client secret. You request those from publiq. Think of them as the username and the password with which Passavo may knock on publiq's door on your behalf.
5. Click Save.
6. Then click Test the connection. The test uses what has been saved; if you test before you save, you are testing the old details.

The keys are stored encrypted. If you save again later with an empty secret field, the existing key stays in place. Otherwise every change would wipe a key nobody can type back in.

The test is done with a pass number that certainly does not exist. That is the intention: we want to know whether publiq lets us in, not whether a particular card exists.

Do you see the message "The UiTPAS connection has not been released on this platform yet" instead of the fields? That is not a setting of yours: Passavo has to switch the connection on once for this installation. Send a note to support and we will do it for you.

Step 2 — Filling in the event ID per product

Fill in the UiTPAS event ID on every product that takes part in UiTPAS. That ID belongs to the activity as it is registered at publiq. The field only exists on products of the type Event or Series; an ordinary admission ticket or a timed ticket therefore cannot get the social tariff.

Where that field is:

1. In the menu on the left, under Sales, click Events and open the product.
2. Scroll to the block The event. There you find the field UiTPAS event id (it only appears once the connection is switched on for the platform).
3. Paste the ID the event has in the UiTdatabank (the long code in the address bar when you open the event there, or the ID publiq gave you) and click Save changes.

Publiq counts per event and not per organisation. So without that ID no rate can be calculated: the visitor then gets This pass gives no reduction on what is in your basket and pays the full price. If something goes wrong, this is the first thing you check.

Step 3 — Using a pass, in the shop and at the desk

There is one input field for all passes: in the shop the field Pass number under Do you have a UiTPAS or a museum pass?, at the desk the field UiTPAS or museum pass, each time with the button Apply. The visitor or your desk staff member copies the number out; from the shape of that number Passavo sees by itself whether it is an UiTPAS (thirteen digits) or another pass.

What then happens:

1. the pass number goes to publiq;
2. publiq says whether there is an entitlement to the social tariff;
3. if there is, the price of one ticket is reduced;
4. after payment the ticket sale is registered at publiq.

At the desk it works in exactly the same way: one field, one number, one key. See The counter till.

One pass applies to one person

If there is an entry of three tickets, it is split: one ticket at the social tariff and two at the ordinary price. Reducing the whole entry would have the council contribute three times for one card.

If a family comes with two passes, add them one by one. Every pass reduces one ticket.

Registration only happens after payment

For money that never arrives, no social tariff should appear in a council's settlement. If the visitor drops out while paying, nothing goes to publiq.

What a visitor is shown

Message	What is going on	What you do
Social tariff applied: you pay … instead of …	There is an entitlement; the price of one ticket has been reduced	Settle up
This UiTPAS is currently not entitled to the social tariff	The pass exists, but the social status is not active	Ordinary price. Refer questions to the council
This pass is not known at UiTPAS (social tariff)	Publiq does not know this number	Have the number checked; one digit wrong soon happens
This pass gives no reduction on what is in your basket	There is an entitlement, but none of the products has a UiTPAS event id (or publiq gives no rate for that event)	Check the event ID on the product
We do not recognise this pass number	The number does not have the shape of a pass you accept	Have the number checked
The UiTPAS could not be checked	A failure at publiq	Try again later, or settle at the ordinary price

That last distinction is there deliberately: a visitor should know whether they have no entitlement or whether the system is simply not cooperating. Those are two very different conversations, and the first is one people would rather not have in a crowded entrance hall.

Cancelling and refunding

If you refund an order through your payment provider, Passavo withdraws the ticket sale at publiq automatically as soon as the refund is confirmed. You do not have to do anything for that. Note: this happens for all passes on that order, even with a partial refund.

If you only cancel a ticket, without a refund, the registration at publiq stays in place. The same goes for a cash sale at the desk that you refund from the till drawer. In that case, report it yourself to your UiTPAS contact person, so that it does not stay in your council's settlement.

If that does not work — publiq is down, the network is stuttering — the order simply stays cancelled. The registration stays visible so that it can be offered again. A failed message to publiq must never hold up your own cancellation: the visitor is standing in front of you and wants their money back.

Common mistakes

Setting the social tariff yourself as a price. Do not do that. The amount comes from publiq, per event. If you set it yourself, the settlement with your council no longer adds up.

Forgetting the event ID on a new product. The pass is then recognised all right, but the visitor gets This pass gives no reduction on what is in your basket. This is by far the most frequently reported cause.

Using one pass for a whole family. One pass reduces one ticket. If a family comes with several passes, add them one at a time.

Asking who is entitled to the social tariff. Do not. The pass says so itself, and the rate should stay discreet.

Saying "no entitlement" during a failure. Read the message. "Could not be checked" means that publiq is briefly unreachable, not that the visitor has no entitlement.

What if …

… my municipality is not an UiTPAS municipality?

Then you cannot offer UiTPAS yet. A municipality can join a neighbouring UiTPAS region; you have that conversation with your councillor or with the leisure department. Publiq guides municipalities through that.

… testing the connection gives an error?

First check your organizer ID, client ID and secret — a space that has been copied along is the classic one. If it stays wrong, get in touch with your contact person at publiq or in your region: the details may not have been activated yet.

… a visitor does not have their pass with them?

Then there is no number and so no social tariff. You cannot look the number up; Passavo keeps no list of passes, and that is deliberate.

… the price does not change while the pass is recognised?

Almost always the event ID is missing on that product, or it is the ID of a different activity. Check that first. If the product is not an Event or a Series, it cannot get the social tariff.

… publiq is down during a busy moment?

Settle at the ordinary price and refer the visitor to the council for the reimbursement, or ask them to come back later. Never set a lower price by hand: that sale then does not end up in the settlement at publiq and your council pays nothing towards it.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to set the social tariff myself? No. The amount comes from publiq, per event. If you set it yourself, the settlement with your council no longer adds up.

Does this work at the desk too? Yes, in exactly the same way: one field, one number, one key.

Where can I see what has been registered? With the order, the rate applied is on the entry. What went to publiq is stored by Passavo per use with the reference publiq gave back; the panel has no separate overview of it.

Does the social tariff cost me money? Yes, part of it. The starting point of UiTPAS is that you as the organiser bear part of the discount and the council contributes part. What has been agreed exactly for your region, you hear from your council.

Can I see who is entitled, without the visitor having to do anything? No, and rightly so. A pass number is needed, and the entitlement is requested from publiq at that moment. Nothing is remembered.