The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, or MBTA or even
simply the T, is making serious strides to distance themselves from
the rest of the rail systems across the country. From something
that began as a connector from Lowell to Boston in 1830 as the
first breakthrough for intercity railroads, this public operating
company continues to evolve and improve their services and are
leading the way in doing so.
From our recently reported
blog regarding their project to build 8,500 solar panels in
Dedham, Massachusetts, there are many developments on the horizon
for the MBTA. Now the MBTA is in partnership with Masabi US Ltd, a
mobile ticketing pioneer, to establish the technology necessary to
make travelling in and around the city of Boston even easier. The
goal is to not only improve fluidity of the MBTA for consumers, but
it will also make it even more affordable to run for the company.
For this coming Fall of 2012, there will be mobile ticketing
options for commuter rail riders with the usage of their Android,
Blackberry or iPhone smartphone devices. Individuals will be able
to purchase their tickets on their phones and thereafter use their
phone screen to display the tickets barcode to be scanned.
Currently, less than half of the 140 commuter rail ticket
stations have fare vending machines, thus causing most of the
customers to purchase a pass onboard with cash. With these new
implementations, there will be a continuous lack of need for these
machines as we go forward, causing MBTA to save a great deal of
money as well as lower cash handling costs. Conductors will be
equipped with Masabis mTicketing solutions such as
scanning/validation software, consumer-facing applications, payment
integration and backend servers capabilities.
In the next few summer months, the MBTA will be hosting focus
groups discussing the design of these mobile applications as well
as having a small group pilot for the public customers to
participate in. As the first rail system in the country to come up
with such a groundbreaking and efficiently modern idea, the MBTA is
sure to stir up a movement for improvement nationwide.
More Information: MBTA