Chiltern Railways has entered phase two of its mobile
phone ticketing project. This follows the success of the initial
three-month pilot, during which it sold 6,000 mobile phone tickets
for journeys between the West Midlands and London.
It is the first rail company in the UK to offer barcodes on
mobile phones as an alternative to paper tickets.
Phase two of the project will incorporate further automation.
Two scanning devices have been attached to the ticket gates at
London Marylebone station to allow passengers to scan their own
phones and open the gates.
The scanners, developed by Cubic Transportation Systems, are
already helping to save time for passengers with mobile tickets,
who had previously been reliant on a member of staff to open the
gates for them.
Chiltern Railways commercial director Neil Micklethwaite said,
“Our mobile phone ticketing pilot has been very successful from a
technological point of view, but more importantly, it has proved
very popular with our passengers, with over 99% telling us they
would recommend it to a friend.
“We have listened to our passengers and what they want is a
simpler and easier way to purchase tickets for their travel. Mobile
phone ticketing means easy purchases, anywhere, any time.”
Other routes will now be considered for the mobile ticketing
technology.
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costs
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