[LINK] Wireless Smartphone Transport Tickets

[David Lochrin]

And the costs & benefits would be...?

There would still have to be some form of on-board manual system to cater for dinosaurs who didn't have the latest technology, or those who did but didn't want to take it to the beach, not to mention fallback in the event the Internet failed or the bus moved into a dead spot or out of range.  And the whole system would be much more complex & vulnerable than the present arrangement where one can just buy a stack of pre-paid tickets.

Off hand, I can't think of many advantages.

It could produce some amusing moments, though, as hassled commuters on the Monday morning bus to work were all peering at their 'phones while trying to use them in a lurching bus.

David

-- 
On Tuesday 29 December 2009 09:42, Tom Worthington wrote:
> Given that so many people now use smart phones on public transport,
> perhaps these could be used for a ticketing system. The passengers
> could be provided with free, or low cost WiFi, as an incentive to use
> the system.

> If a bus, train or tram is already equipped with a WiFi hotspot, then
> just a small computer would be needed for ticketing. When the passenger
> boarded the vehicle they would activate their phone and use an app, or
> web interface, to get an electronic ticket from the onboard computer.
> For frequent travellers this could be one button push.