German national rail company Deutsche Bahn and Vodafone are set to test an innovative new ticketing system that lets German travelers pay for journeys just by pressing a button on their cell phone. Announced at CeBit, the “Touch & Travel” system will be trialed in October 2007 and is expected to be ready for full implementation by 2010.
Thanks to the “Touch & Travel” system, passengers will no longer have to worry about choosing the right fare or even buying a ticket. Instead, each time they start or end a journey, they just put their NFC-enabled phone next to one of the “Touchpoints” and press a key. The system then calculates the fare and sends them a single bill at the end of the month.
Located at train stations and bus and tram stops, the “Touchpoints” are fitted with RFID chips. These chips transfer ticketing data to the passenger's cell phone, where it is securely stored on the SIM card. Using mobile terminals, Deutsche Bahn ticket collectors will be able to check the data within seconds - even when the phone's battery has run down.
"As a leading cell phone manufacturer we're continuously developing new cell phone applications," said Mr. F.P. Joussen, Chairman Vodafone Germany. "Touch & Travel underlines our position as innovation leaders".
The pilot scheme
Starting in October, the initial trial will cover the Intercity train route between Berlin and Hanover and parts of the Berlin metropolitan railway (S-Bahn) as well as the entire Potsdam city train and bus network. Volunteer users will be able to pay for their journeys using an NFC-enabled Motorola handset and move seamlessly between Intercity and local transport networks.
A more extensive pilot involving real passengers and covering Berlin's entire metropolitan rail and subway network is being planned for next year. There are also plans to integrate Deutsche Bahn's car sharing and Call-a-Bike services into the system.
"We want to make our services as user-friendly as possible to attract more customers," said a Deutsche Bahn spokesperson. "Touch and travel is easy to use, and is suitable for intercity, regional and city traffic."
A market-friendly solution
During the system's launch at CeBit, Vodafone and Deutsche Bahn said they hoped to develop “Touch & Travel” into a solution that could also be sold to other companies. Compared to chip-card-based systems, the phone-based “Touch & Travel” requires a relatively low investment in infrastructure for stations and stops.
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