MBTA's ticketing app reaches $10M in sales, wins award
Allows riders to purchase and then display rail tickets on the smartphone’s screen as an encrypted barcode and as a human readable ticket.
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s (MBTA) innovative mobile ticketing platform for customers reached $10 million in sales since its introduction system-wide in November 2012.
More than one million tickets have been sold using the "mTicket" smartphone app, representing 15% of all non-corporate commuter rail ticket sales. Customers are able to purchase passes for both commuter rail and ferry service right from their smartphones.
“The development and implementation of mobile ticketing for our Commuter Rail customers represents not only an improvement in service and convenience, but also in the way we are collecting revenue,” said Dr. Beverly Scott, GM of the MBTA. “We are still early in the effort, but we are saving thousands of dollars by not installing costly, static vending machines, saving on ticket production and eliminating cash transactions — all while making riders' commutes easier.”
The system, developed by Masabi, is the country's first full smartphone commuter rail ticketing system allowing riders to use the MBTA iPhone and Android mTicket apps to purchase and then display rail tickets. Tickets are displayed on the phone’s screen as an encrypted barcode and as a human readable ticket. The app can be found by searching for "MBTA mTicket" in the Apple App Store and Google Play.
The MBTA’s work on “mTicket” will be recognized this fall at the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) annual conference where Chief Information Officer Gary Foster and Deputy Director, Fare Systems, Robert Creedon will accept the Digital Government – Government to Citizen Award for the mTicketing for commuter rail and ferry services project on behalf of the MBTA.
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