Passengers to buy rail tickets via mobile phones

Purchase a ticket, receive a barcode via text

24 October 2006 10:58 GMT / By Amber Maitland

Yesterday Pocket-lint reported on a trial of new technology at Manchester City that lets season ticket holders enter the grounds having their mobile phone scanned for the ticket as they go through the gate.

Today Chiltern Railways has announced that that it's launching a pilot to let passengers buy tickets via their mobile phone. Via text message, they receive a barcode that can be scanned at various stations.

This is a slightly different technology than the one we reported on yesterday. The Manchester City trial involves a chip that is read by a scanner and is called Near Field Communication technology. It requires that handsets be equipped with the special chip, which many, so far, do not have.

The Chiltern Railways, on the other hand, does not need the extra chip to work, as it relies on a scanner reading a barcode on the handset's display. The Railways hope that the new method will reduce queueing and make buying tickets easier.

The 3-month trial will be rolled out at the end of the year for a 3-month period. The organisers plan that passengers will eventually even be able to change ticket destinations via their mobiles.

Full tags

Phones, Mobile phones, Chilterns Railways, shopping