March 2008
200 test users have the opportunity to try out a service that is scheduled to be introduced nationwide for all rail passengers in 2010: Touch&Travel - the Deutsche Bahn AG and Vodafone's innovative e-ticketing system. The two companies and their partners are starting a pilot test today that will put the new technology through its paces in one of Berlin's suburban rail sub-networks, on local train services in Potsdam and on the Berlin–Hanover intercity express service.
The Touch&Travel system turns mobile phones into tickets. Passengers use their mobile phones to check in when they get on the train and then to check out again when they reach their destination. All the station platforms and bus stops will have 'touchpoints' installed. The length of the journey and the ticket price are calculated at the end of the journey, and the customer receives a regular statement of journeys made.
"We're driving growth in the public transport sector by simplifying rail journeys. It's the only way we can make our products and services attractive to young people," said Hartmut Mehdorn, CEO of Deutschen Bahn AG. "Touch&Travel is a nationwide and standardised e-ticketing service that we are offering in conjunction with Vodafone, and it will be available to all transport operators." Standardisation ensures that there is no hotchpotch of different technologies.
"These days, when people leave the house, they always take their mobile phone with them, in addition to their keys and wallet. I'm convinced that mobile phones will be used for payments and identification purposes in future," said Friedrich Joussen, CEO of Vodafone Germany. "Touch&Travel is an innovative product that simplifies rail travel and indicates the vast potential that exists for mobile payments and mobile ticketing."
The Deutsche Bahn and Vodafone's e-ticketing service works on the basis of a new mobile communications technology called Near Field Communication (NFC). This data transfer standard enables contactless data transfer when two devices come within a few centimetres of each other.
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