01.01.07
Mobile phone ticketing first for UK rail industry
Chiltern Railways has become the first train company in the United Kingdom to sell mobile phone tickets to their passengers following the sale of their first 'mobile tickets' to passengers last week.
Chiltern Railways is working alongside YourRail, Cubic Transportation Systems, Mobiqa, and ts.com to make the vision of mobile phone ticketing a reality for passengers.
A three month pilot is now launched where passengers can purchase Chiltern's £5 online Eday ticket for journeys between London Marylebone and Birmingham Moor Street or Stratford -upon-Avon via the website www.chilternrailways.co.uk.
Passengers receive their ticket in the form of a barcode sent directly to their mobile phone by an SMS text message. Staff on board the train and at London Marylebone station will be able to check the 'mobile ticket' with special barcode scanners.
Commercial director for Chiltern Railways, Neil Micklethwaite, said: "We are happy to be leading the industry as the first train company in the United Kingdom to sell this new format of mobile phone ticketing to our passengers.
"We have listened to our passengers and what they want is a simpler and easier way to purchase tickets for their travel. Mobile ticketing will mean easy purchases, anywhere, anytime.
"There are many benefits to mobile phone ticketing but the most important to mention is that it's simple and convenient providing lower cost tickets for our passengers giving the customer even greater value for money.
"The next step is to install new scanning gate technology at Marylebone station which will allow passengers with mobile phone tickets to scan their own 'mobile tickets' as they walk through the ticket gates," Mr Micklethwaite said.
Mobile phone ticketing is now available for Chiltern passengers for the next three months with the objective of making this service permanent. Ticket purchases on the move from mobile phones will be possible at a later stage, as well as via the internet and other retail channels.
E-Day is Chiltern Railway's cheapest ticket from Birmingham and Stratford-upon-Avon to London (and vice versa), costing a flat rate of £5. It can only be bought from the Chiltern Railways website 24 hours in advance of travel.
Working side by side on this project with Chiltern Railways is YourRail.
Martin Hathaway, director for YourRail, said: "This innovation comes at an age when virtually all rail passengers carry mobile phones and growth in both mobile communication and rail transport remains strong. People who are on the move turn to their mobile phones to manage their lives and we believe organising their transport this way will be popular.
Cubic Transportation Systems is supplying Chiltern Railways with the new gate technology, due for installation next month.
Richard Henderson, head of business development for Cubic, said, "As the leader in the field of automatic fare collection systems, Cubic are delighted to be working on this project together with Chiltern Railways. We are continuously looking at new ticketing technologies and the operational benefits they may bring for our clients within the mass transit industry."
Mobiqa is the supplier of the mobile ticketing technology which generates and delivers barcodes to customers’ phones. They also supply the validation application that ticket inspectors use to determine if a ticket is valid for a particular journey.
Iain McCready, CEO of Mobiqa, comments, "Mobile ticketing offers the ultimate in customer convenience and ticketing efficiency and is undoubtedly the future for train ticket delivery. The UK's train ticketing services will certainly benefit from Mobiqa's patented mobile ticketing technology and our extensive worldwide experience in transport, live music events and sport."
ts.com is the internet retailing company which has made the online Eday ticket compatible with mobile phone ticketing.
David Oates, ts.com’s sales and marketing director, said," "We are delighted to be working with Chiltern Railways on this mobile ticketing innovation. We are continuously working with our clients to provide them with innovative ticketing solutions which meet the needs of their business and improve the service they can offer their own customers.
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