Masabi Ltd. has secured $2 million from m8 Capital, a United Kingdom-based mobile-technology investment company, to aid in the global rollout of a barcode-based mobile application designed to enable consumers to purchase train tickets using their mobile phones from any location, London-based Masabi announced on Sept. 28.
The mobile-ticketing company for the transportation industry is working with Atos Origin S.A., a France-based information-technology provider, and thetrainline.com, a UK-based ticketing website, in the development of the system.
Masabi, which calls the application “ticket machine in your pocket,” is planning to launch the service to support access along the United Kingdom’s National Rail network by yearend. The technology would enables consumers to purchase train tickets using almost any basic mobile or smart phone, including Apple Inc.’s iPhone, Research In Motion Ltd.’s Blackberry, Google Inc.’s Android and various Motorola Inc. and Nokia Corp. phones, Whitaker says.
“Basically, if a phone has a color screen and Internet capabilities, then the consumer will be able to use our service,” Ben Whitaker, Masabi CEO, tells PaymentsSource. This application is only available to purchase train tickets.
To purchase tickets, consumers download the free Masabi application, which is similar to an automated ticket machine. Consumers pick the tickets they want after inputting the time and destination into the application. They pay by credit or debit card when prompted. The application then saves the consumer’s payment information for the next purchase, Whitaker says.
The service complies with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard, and every communication is protected and secure, Whitaker says. “Consumers do not have to sign up for an account or provide a password,” he says.
To access the tickets, consumers either may pick them up from an automated ticket machine or display the ticket on the phone’s screen to the ticket collector depending on whether the transit operator uses secure barcode-scanning technology, Whitaker says. If the station uses such technology, then consumers will receive the ticket on their phone, which the conductor may scan right from their phone screens.
If consumers cannot access the data from the application while trying to make a purchase, they may send their ticket-purchase information via text message through the application to Masabi, Whitaker says. Masabi processes the transaction behind the scenes using the information the consumer sends in the text message.
The text-message option is only available if the application “can’t find the data system,” Whitaker explains. If the data cannot be found, the application will ask the consumer if he wants to send a text message.
“Once the encrypted text-message transaction is complete, the application notes that the ticket is available on the screen, completing the transaction. The consumer really does not have to do anything in this instance, other than press a button.”
Consumers do not pay a fee other than the purchase price for the tickets, Whitaker says. Transit operators, however, pay a service fee that is split between acquirers and Masabi, Whitaker notes, who could not say what the fees would be.
Masabi believes the mobile-ticketing system would help eliminate the cost for extra self-service ticket machines and ticket windows, Whitaker contends. Additionally, consumers would not have to wait in long lines and potentially miss a train or forget their ticket at home because if the rail operator incorporates a barcode scanner, then the ticket is a paperless, Whitaker note.
Helping eliminate the need for a paper ticket makes sense because “nearly all consumers have a mobile phone that is always with them,” Todd Ablowitz, president of Double Diamond Group, a Centennial, Colo.-based consulting firm, tells PaymentsSource. Therefore, “mobile is a perfect fit for the transportation space,” Ablowitz adds.
However, while a barcode system may provide a contactless-scanning option, the main challenge is that “the barcode readers may have problems with reading the screen and may take a few tries,” which ultimately may slow the line down, Ablowitz adds.
To eliminate this challenge, Masabi is working with scanner manufacturers “to build a new barcode-scanning system” to enable all rail operators to scan tickets via a mobile phone without any issues, Whitaker says.
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