touch and travel

In autumn 2007, the new e-ticketing – or more precise mobile ticketing – solution called "Touch&Travel" will be tested in a first pilot. The system, created by the German railway company Die Bahn and Vodafone is taking mobile ticketing in Germany to a next level. Mobile ticketing projects in the past always tried to reproduce the old fashioned process:

"select train or route" – "buy ticket" – "boarding" – "ticket inspection" – "deboarding"

For example: Now it is possible to buy a paperless ticket by the "Handy-Ticket" service in Germany 10 minutes before you board the train. But the mobile phone just replaces the ticket counter or ticket machine and the paper ticket itself. That’s not a real innovation.

With "Touch&Travel" Die Bahn and Vodafone is getting a big step further: The user just checks into the system with his mobile phone when boading the train. While the ticket inspection he or she shows the mobile phone and some information about the train is stored. After deboading the user checks out of the system with his mobile phone at one of the so called "Touchpoints". The system itself calculates the used route and the cheapest fare. E.g. after three trips with the public transportation the system will not charge three single fares but the cheaper price of a day ticket. Near Field Communication (NFC) is used for data communication between the "Touchpoints" and the mobile phones. This communication technology has been used in a mobile ticketing field trial for public transportation of the Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbundes (RMV) in Frankfurt, Germany. After the successful field trial in 2006 the system was introduced in the daily operations.

The "Touch&Travel" approach suits very well to the needs of business travelers. The new system simplifies the traveling process for that specific target group: check in, check out and get a bill with the cheapest fares at the end of the month. The question is, how that system fit’s to the users needs of all the other target groups. Many travelers want – or even have – to know what the fare of the trip will be.

The first test phase will start with a long distant railroad connection Hanover – Berlin, the Berlin S-Bahn (public transportation) and the public transportation of Potsdam. Right now, they are searching for test customers.

Sources: TouchAndTravel.de, DB AG, Picture: DB AG/Winter

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