Full speed ahead for virtual ticketing

For a long time, public-transportation companies relied exclusively on paper tickets sold via offices or machines. Even Deutsche Bahn passengers with online tickets had to print them out before embarking on their journey. Now, an increasing number of bus and railroad operators are making the move to virtual tickets.

Defined standards for e-ticketing

In 2005, the Association of German Transport Companies (VDV) established standards for electronic and mobile ticketing solutions – with the expert advice and assistance of T-Systems. The association also offers a core application whose functionality enables compliance with these standards, and supports secure data transmission between passengers’ smart cards/mobile phones, local-transport companies’ devices, and back-end accounting and payment systems. So in the future, passengers could be able to buy their tickets quickly and easily anywhere in Germany.

Public-transportation systems in Germany are very varied, and first-time users, such as tourists, often have to grapple with complex zones and unfamiliar tariffs. They find it difficult to avoid paying too much – or too little – for their journey. What’s more, tickets must be time-stamped in different ways depending on the transport operator – sometimes automatically, sometimes manually. This can lead to passengers unintentionally traveling without a valid ticket, and facing the prospect of heavy fines. That’s why transport associations are trying to simplify the traveling experience.

Transport companies turn to T-Systems

The Deutsche Telekom subsidiary worked in close collaboration with various industry partners and transport network operators to develop future-proof e-ticketing standards. As a result, several organizations have chosen to deploy T-Systems’ electronic and mobile ticketing solutions.