Chiltern Railways calls for more mobile ticketing

Automated scanning devices used in second stage of trials

Chiltern is looking to introduce mobile tickets

Chiltern Railways has started the second phase of a mobile phone ticketing scheme and installed scanning devices at London Marylebone station.

The rail operator completed a three month trial to allow passengers to purchase train tickets using mobile phones, selling more than 6,000 tickets in that time.

Barcodes are transmitted to mobile phones as an alternative to paper tickets and the scanning devices will allow passengers to scan their own tickets.

Previously, passengers with mobile tickets were reliant on station staff to scan the barcode and open the gate for them.

Staff were equipped with PDAs capable of scanning the barcode, which connects to the back office to retrieve details if a passengers’ phone battery dies.

‘The pilot has been very successful from a technological point of view and has proved popular with passengers, with more than 99 per cent telling us they would recommend it to a friend,’ said Chiltern Railways commercial director Neil Micklethwaite.

The scanners have been developed and installed by vendor Cubic Transportation Systems. The next stage of the project is to expand the mobile ticketing option to other products on the route.

‘Currently this technology is only valid with our E-day product, purchased from our web site, allowing passengers to travel between Birmingham and Stratford-upon-Avon to London Marylebone,’ said Micklethwaite.

‘We are now looking at ways to expand this technology across a range of our tickets. This new innovation comes when virtually all rail passengers carry mobile phones.’

The project, the first of its kind in Britain, has been developed by YourRail, Cubic Transportation Systems, Mobiqa and ts.com.

The next stage will be the ability to purchase mobile tickets directly from a phone in addition to the web.