More Mobile Ticketing Tests

The Department for Transport (DfT) in the UK has completed the first mobile phone ticketing trial using the government-mandated ITSO interoperable smartcard standard. According to reports on the website Computing.co.uk, the six month trial was held in the north-west of England and involved two separate bus companies. However, only a relatively small number of passengers were included in the pilot scheme. The 36 regular travelers who participated in the trial used near-field communication (NFC)-enabled mobile phones to pay for their tickets.

The DfT said the test was to see how viable it is to use an NFC phone as an ITSO ticket carrier. At the same time the government department wanted to prove that ITSO-compliant products can be remotely loaded onto NFC phones as well as validated by NFC-enabled customer devices. Some developments carried out during the trial have led to the creation of cheaper ticket inspection devices, as well as changes to the ITSO specification to facilitate remote sales.

Transport for London carried out a mobile ticketing trial with Barclaycard last year. The transport body told the London Assembly in October that it intended to replace the Oyster travelcard with new mobile phone or bankcard-based ticketing systems.

In December last year, mobile application developer Masabi announced a new system for paying for rail tickets via mobile phones. Masabi said its service is based on an agreement it has with the Rail Settlement Plan, set up by the Association of Train Operating Companies. The new national standard will allow customers to pay for their train journey by simply sending a text. They will also be able to purchase a single ticket, even if they use more than one train company during their journey.

Masabi's system is currently being trialed with Chiltern Railway, National Express and the Heathrow Express.