Date: 05 Jun 2007 09:37
We celebrated our 10,000th mobile phone ticket passenger on Monday at London Marylebone.
Chiltern Railways celebrating with Lisa Kampta and her fiancée (C) Rajesh Joshi
This is the first time this technology has been used in the UK rail industry and is proving to be a big favourite amongst passengers.
Lisa Kampta, our 10,000th mobile ticketing passenger, said the new technology has made it very easy for her to purchase tickets and is looking forward to the technology becoming more permanent. Lisa often travels from Birmingham to London (and visa versa) to visit friends and family and has only recently discovered E-Day.
She said: “This is the first time I have used the E-day mobile phone ticket and I’m shocked I have never noticed such a super quick and value for money way to travel.
“Not only is it convenient to have the ticket sent direct to your mobile phone it also offers a variety of times on when you want to travel.
“I prefer to travel by train because it is a greener way to travel and I chose Chiltern Railways because it’s a clean and reliable operator.
“I was shocked when I found out I was the 10,000th passenger but it’s such a privilege to mark this occasion with Chiltern Railways today.”
Our 10,000th passenger Lisa Kampta (C) Rajesh Joshi
The mobile phone ticket is only valid for Chiltern’s £5 online Eday ticket for journeys between London Marylebone and Birmingham Moor Street or Stratford –upon-Avon via the website www.chilternrailways.co.uk.
Passengers receive their ticket in the form of a barcode sent directly to their mobile phone by an SMS text message. Staff on board the train and at London Marylebone station will be able to check the ‘mobile ticket’ with special barcode scanners.
Now the project is moving into the next stage. Trial modifications to selected gates at London Marylebone station will now enable passengers with barcode tickets on their mobile phones to scan their phone over the integrated readers which will then automatically open the ticket gate.
The next stage is mobile phone to mobile phone ticketing.
Special cake (C) Rajesh Joshi
Chiltern Railways Commercial Director Neil Micklethwaite said:” 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 will mean easy purchases, anywhere, any time.
“We are now looking at ways to expand this technology across a range of our tickets.
“This new innovation comes at an age when virtually all rail passengers carry mobile phones and growth in both mobile communication and rail transport remains strong.”
The award-winning train company, alongside partners YourRail, Cubic Transportation Systems, Mobiqa and ts.com, are the first to sell barcode-on-mobile-phone ticketing in the UK rail industry.
Our giant mobile phone at London Marylebone (C) Rajesh Joshi
YourRail Director, David Gillick said: “Since January, Chiltern Railways, together with YourRail, has supplied British rail passengers with tickets delivered to their mobile phones. We are the first to do this. Now that Cubic Transportation Systems has joined our pilot, Chiltern's passengers can automatically board their trains at Marylebone Station by scanning their mobile ticket at a gate, much the same as a paper ticket or an Oyster Card. In the future we’ll achieve another ‘first’ when Chiltern's customers will also be able to purchase their mobile tickets directly from their phones in addition to the web.”
Cubic Transportation Systems who have supplied this gate technology have long been at the forefront of innovation when it comes to fare collection and validation systems across the world, including providing the technology to TranSys that delivered Oyster to Transport for London
Mobiqa CEO, Iain McCready comments, “Mobiqa are excited to be working on this initiative with their partners and look forward to evolving the UK’s rail transport ticketing system.”
ts.com Sales and Marketing Director, David Oates said: “We are delighted to be working with Chiltern Railways on this mobile ticketing innovation. We are continuously working with our clients to provide them with innovative ticketing solutions that meet the needs of their business and improve the service they can offer their own customers.
E-Day is Chiltern Railway’s cheapest ticket from Birmingham and Stratford-upon-Avon to London (and vice versa), costing a flat rate of £5. It can only be bought from the Chiltern Railways website at 1800 the day before travel.
