Mobile ticketing

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Mobile ticketing can reduce passengers’ reliance on cash and allows for the integration of transit ticketing with trip planning and real-time scheduling platforms. In contrast to card-based ticketing technologies, mobile ticketing platforms do not necessarily require the installation of costly hardware. Mobile ticketing involves several distinct technologies, including Electronic Ticketing, 2-dimensional Barcodes, Near Field Communication, Bluetooth Low-energy Communication, and Short Message Service (SMS) Ticketing. Major companies in the Mobile Ticketing Technology market in North America include Bytemark, Token Transit, Masabi, moovel North America, Gemalto, Passport and Xerox.

Overview of Mobile Ticketing Platforms

The following table lists some of the major companies involved in the mobile ticketing industry, with information on their platforms and the technologies and uses these platforms support.

Company Product name Components Supported technologies Validation Technologies Auxiliary Functions Transit Systems
Bytemark[1]
  • Mobile Ticket application
  • Merchant Back Office
  • Validators
  • Visual Verification
  • QR-code
  • NFC
  • Merchant Mobile app (Smartphone-based)
  • Hardware validators (stand-alone)
  • Trip planning[2]
  • Scheduling/Route Maps
  • Advisory Alerts
  • New York Waterway[3].
  • Toronto Transit commission[4]
Masabi JustRide[5]
  • mTicketing app
  • Hub (cloud-based back office)
  • Inspect Validation Suite
  • Visual Verification[6]
  • Barcode[6]
  • Inspect app (Smartphone)[7]
  • Inspect validator (stand-alone)[7]
  • Inspect Gateline (attaches to existing fare gates)[7]
  • Trip planning
  • Service Alerts
  • Sonoma-Marin Rail Transit[8]
  • Metrolink[9]
  • Santa Clara VTA[9]
moovel
  • RiderApp (Mobile)[10]
  • RiderWeb (website)[10]
  • InspectorApp, Fare Connect. [10]
  • TOMS (Back Office)[10]
  • Inspect app (smartphone: validate barcodes and NFC)[10].
  • FareConnect (hardware agnostic: integrated into existing hardware)[10][11]
  • RideTap (ridesourcing, carshare and bikeshare)[10][12]
  • Orange County Transportation Authority[13]
  • Portland TriMet[14]
Passport
  • Integrated Mobile Travel app[15]
  • Visual Verification inspection[15]
  • Trip planning[15]
  • Real-time tracking[15]
Token Transit
  • Ticketing application[18]
  • Visual Verification [18]
  • Visual Verification inspection[18]
  • Santa Monica Big Blue Bus[19]

Electronic and Barcode Ticketing

Electronic ticketing and barcode technologies store a customer’s ticket in a software application. With barcode technology, the ticket can be stored as a 2-dimensional barcode, which fare inspectors electronically scan at the beginning of a journey. With electronic ticketing[20] (also known as “flash pass” or “visual verification” ticketing), the customer activates the ticket at the beginning of their journey, prompting a countdown or a change of color (for a limited time frame): A fare inspector can quickly determine a ticket’s validity from these markers by means of visual inspection. The former type of ticketing is used for the New Jersey Transit’s mobile ticketing application[20] while the latter category is used for ticketing on the Los Angeles Department of Transportation’s bus services[21] and on the San Diego’s Metropolitan Transit System[22]. Mobile ticketing applications developed by Masabi for railway operators in Great Britain include both visual verification and barcode components[23].

Both visual verification and barcode systems cost less to implement than traditional card-based fare validation systems,because they involve little to no hardware installation[24]. Although barcode validation traditionally required specialized machinery, mobile validation applications developed by Masabi[25] and moovel[26] allow fare inspectors (on services that rely on proof-of-payment inspection) to validate barcodes with smart phones. Masabi’s “Inspect Validator” and “Inspect Gateline” products also allow for attachment of barcode validators to electronic bus fareboxes and transit station turnstiles[7]. Moreover, both systems can improve the rate of fare processing and collection over cash or paper ticket payment. However, limited wireless connectivity and poor lighting can impede processing of barcodes, delaying boarding on high volume transit routes[20]. Visual verification tickets also provides agencies with limited data on passenger boarding compared to other forms of mobile payment[20].

Near Field Communication (NFC)

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a technology that stores financial data on a secure microprocessor chip (or “secure element”) embedded in certain smart phone models[27]. The chip can transmit the data through radio waves[28] to communicate with any device that can read Contactless smart cards that meet ISO standard 14443[27], as well as with other NFC-enabled mobile devices[29]. Payment typically requires the download of a designated payment application like AndroidPay or ApplePay, and the processing of payments relies on an interchange of data between the mobile payment application, secure microprocessor, transaction processor (the fare validator) and application acceptor (the “merchant,” in this case, the transit agency)[27]. Riders can tap their phones to an NFC-enabled kiosk to download a fare product onto a particular payment application, then tap the phone directly to a ISO 14443-standard fare validator to “pay” the ticket from the application (as with a smart card)[27]. The phone-to-phone transfer of data permitted by NFC technology also allows for NFC-enabled phones to validate fares stored in the Secure Element of other NFC phones in situations (like on city busses) where no ISO 14443-standard validators are available[29].

One drawback to Near Field Communication is its limited availability: As recently as January 2016, only 30% of android phones hosted the technology[24]. However, as the table in the first section of this article shows, mobile ticketing platforms can incorporate Near Field Communication (NFC) alongside other technologies.

Bluetooth Low-Energy

The third mobile payment method involves the use of low-energy Bluetooth technology. Bluetooth low-energy “beacons”, powered by USB or battery, emit low-power wireless signals[30] that can detect and communicate with any smartphone equipped with the technology that comes within a certain distance of the beacon. Bluetooth Low-energy utilizes less power than traditional bluetooth technology, allowing it to operate continuously[20]. Transit agencies could equip the entrances to their vehicles with Bluetooth Low-energy beacons programmed to “read” value on the mobile accounts of oncoming passengers, deducting a fare without requiring passengers to remove their phones[20].

Bluetooth Low-energy technology appears to be more widespread than Near Field Communication, available on all apple operating systems of iOS 7 or higher and on Android operating systems more advanced than Android 4.3[31]. Although no large-scale deployments of the technology for transit payment have been conducted to date[29], pilot programs have demonstrated the technology's feasibility. For instance, last June, Bytetoken (the UK division of Bytemark) tested a “KeyPass” system which utilized Bluetooth Low-Energy beacons, in conjunction with a 3-D camera monitor, to validate mobile tickets on the phones of boarding passengers: Once beacons detected a valid mobile ticket, and relayed the information to a back-office server, the server would instruct the transit fare gates to open[32]. The KeyPass system used the 3-D camera to track passengers’ movement and detect their physical characteristics, allowing the system to associate mobile tickets with specific passengers and open the fare gates for these passengers for a length of time sufficient to enable their entry[33].

SMS-Ticketing

A final form of mobile ticketing makes use of the phone’s Short Message Service (SMS) function. Riders can send a pre-determined code or phrase (representing a certain transit fare type) as a text message to a designated number, prompting a response showing the ticket fare (or zone) and travel details, often including an identification code[34]. Rather than billing the customer directly, the transit agency charges the customer’s mobile service provider, which then passes on the fare cost to the customer as part of their messaging fees[35]. Such a form of payment can be used for single ride tickets on several public transit systems in Europe, including in Stockholm[36], Helsinki[34] and Milan[37]. One of the primary products for this type of ticketing is Gemalto’s Netsize[38]. One variation on SMS technology uses Multi-media Messaging to send passengers a two dimensional barcode after they text their ticket request[39]. This form of ticketing is employed by the municipal transit agency in Malaga, Spain[40]. Token Transit, a North American company whose mobile platform is used by several California transit agencies (including Kern County Transit, Omnitrans and Santa Monica Big Blue Bus) has a ticketing window on their website that allows riders to pay for transit passes online and send the pass to their phone via SMS message[19].

Basic SMS-based ticketing systems work with any mobile device (not just smartphones) and do not require possession of a credit card[38]. The simplicity and speed of the purchasing process (with no upfront billing required) may make this form of payment more amenable to customers than a mobile application for which one has to register[41]. Unfortunately, current deployments of SMS ticketing in Stockholm, Helsinki and Denmark[42] can only be used for purchases of single fares (as opposed to passes), because of the messages’ limited functionality. The billing of mobile companies, rather than individuals, impedes employer-based fare payment and excludes riders who do not subscribe to an approved service provider[41]. The technology’s use of mobile billing also requires transit agencies to enter into partnerships with mobile providers[43]. Finally, basic SMS tickets lack secure encryption[44]. SMS ticketing that involves use of a barcode ticket is more secure, but requires possession of a smartphone.

  1. ↑ Bytemark. Products.[1]
  2. ↑ For information on Auxiliary Features, see. Bytemark. "Transit Services." 2017. https://www.bytemark.co/industries
  3. ↑ Gilkyson, Blair. NYC Ferry Launches New Midtown to Astoria Route. 2017. [2]
  4. ↑ Mobile Payments Today. "Mobile Ticketing Comes to Toronto's Transit System. Jul 13, 2015. [3]
  5. ↑ Masabi. JustRide Platform. [4]
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Masabi. "JustRide mTicketing App." [5]
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 Masabi. "JustRide Inspect Validation Suite." [6]
  8. ↑ Apple Store. Smart eTickets [7]
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Masabi. "Customers." http://www.masabi.com/customer-deployments/
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 10.7 “North American Products.” Moovel.[8]
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 Sandler, Emma. "moovel’s Latest Tech Brings Company Closer to Dominating Future Transit Payments." June 19, 2017. [9]
  12. ↑ [10]
  13. ↑ Bucher, Maile. "moovel Introduces Fare Connect a Contactless Fare System." July 24,2017. MassTransit Mag. [11]
  14. ↑ Globe Sherpa, predecessor. See. Tavila, Elisa. Transit Mobile Payments: Driving Consumer Experience and Adoption. Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. February 2015.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 15.4 Passport Products: Transit. [12]
  16. ↑ Charlotte Agenda. “Mobile Ticketing for the Light Rail is Finally Here.” [13]
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Passport. “Who We Serve.” [14]
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 "Token Transit." [15]
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Token Transit. "Send a Pass." [16]
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 20.5 Florida Department of Transportation (2016). “Assessment of Mobile Fare Payment Technology for Future Deployment in Florida.” [17]
  21. ↑ The App Store. “LA Mobile.” [18]
  22. ↑ San Diego Metropolitan Transit System. “Compass Cloud.” [19]
  23. ↑ E.g. for the Greater Anglia Railway. [20]
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Bakker, David. NFC VERSUS 2D BARCODES FOR MOBILE TICKETING IN PUBLIC TRANSPORT. [21]
  25. ↑ “Inspect Validation Suite.” Masabi.com. [22]
  26. ↑ North American Products.” Moovel. [23]
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 27.2 27.3 Smart Card Alliance Transportation Council. “Near Field Communication (NFC) and Transit: Applications, Technology and Implementation Considerations.” February 2012. [24]
  28. ↑ Gordon, Scott Adam. “What is NFC and how does it work on an Android?” AndroidPit.com. [25]
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 Leal, Joao Pedro Santos Reis. Ticket Validation in Public Transportation Using the Smartphone. June 2015. [26]
  30. ↑ Bluetooth. “How it works.” [27]
  31. ↑ Bluetooth Low Energy: Introduction. [28]
  32. ↑ Bytemark. “Bytetoken delivers KeyPass.” 2017. [29]
  33. ↑ Railway Gazette UK. “Bluetooth-enabled ticket gates demonstrated.” [30]
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Helsingin Sendun Liikinne. “Tickets and Fares: SMS Ticket.” HSL/HRT.  [31]
  35. ↑ E.g. Netsize. “Mobile Ticketing by SMS.” [32]
  36. ↑ “Fares and Tickets.” SL. [33]
  37. ↑ GSM Association. "A Global Study in Transport." 2015. [34]
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Netsize. “Mobile Ticketing by SMS.” [35]
  39. ↑ World Bank. "SMS or barcode on Smartphone." [36]
  40. ↑ EMT-The Mobile Bus Ticket System in Spain. [37]
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 Juntunen A., Luukkainen, S., & Tuunainen, V. K. (2010, June). Deploying NFC technology for mobile ticketing services–identification of critical business model issues. In Mobile Business and 2010 Ninth Global Mobility Roundtable (ICMB-GMR), 2010 Ninth International Conference on (pp. 82-90). IEEE. [38]
  42. ↑ Fynbus. "Enkeltrejser" (Translation: Single Tickets). [39]
  43. ↑ Polite (Policy Learning in Information Technologies for Transportation Enhancement). “Analysis and Reporting of Best Practices.” [40]
  44. ↑ Ferreira, Galvo Dias and Cunha. “Design and Evaluation of a Mobile Payment System for Public Transport: The MobiPag Prototype.” 2014.[41]
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