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Residents of the North German city of Münster to buy their bus and train tickets via mobile phone.

 
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28 Sep 2007

Beginning in October, residents of the North German city of Münster will be able to buy their bus and train tickets via mobile phone. This makes Münster the twelfth participant in the nationwide pilot project. The nationally standardized system was developed by member firms and groups of the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) and Siemens IT Solutions and Services, DVB LogPay and the Fraunhofer-Institut IVI Dresden. Siemens supplied and now operates the IT solution. The pilot has been under way since the end of April 2007 in Chemnitz, Dresden, Düsseldorf, Essen, Hamburg, Lübeck, Nuremberg, Oberlausitz Ulm, Vogtland and Wuppertal – with a total of some 30,000 tickets via handy sold to date.

Residents of the North German city of Münster to buy their bus and train tickets via mobile phone.

One of a kind: Stadtwerke Münster (public services) also offers tickets in sets of 4 for purchase via mobile phone. Consumers buying these tickets by phone pay 20 cents less than the cash price on city buses. In addition to developing the IT solution together with its subsidiary Hansecom and the Fraunhofer-Institut IVI Dresden, Siemens IT Solutions and Services implemented and now operates it.

This is how it works: Passengers complete one-time registration at www.dashandyticket.de and select their desired payment method. After registration, they receive a text message containing the download file for a small Java application that is used for ordering tickets. While almost all recent mobile phone models support Java, they also need to be Internet-ready. In the software menu, the user enters the type and quantity of tickets and, if necessary, the route as well – from a single ticket to a day pass, all options are available.

Ordering takes less than ten seconds, with the order being transmitted by GPRS to a central server. Since not all users have a Java-capable mobile phone or want to download the software to their phone, Stadtwerke Münster also offers SMS ticket delivery. Tickets can be ordered in a variety of ways – by Internet, text message or phone. Passengers who travel the same route regularly can save it under Favorites and order tickets even faster. After payment, the phone shows an on-screen confirmation of ticket purchase that serves as a receipt upon ticket inspection – together with a photo ID or mobile telephone number. Tickets are purchased using a prepaid system, debit or credit card through the DVB LogPay GmbH, a subsidiary of DVB Bank.



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