Article: First mobile ticketing trial in Australia

[ozbob]

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First mobile ticketing trial in Australia

First mobile ticketing trial in Australia

June 26, 2012 at 1:30 PM
Mobile tickets for buses in North Queensland

In May Moore Stephens Technology Australia (MSTA) started together with a North Queensland operator a three months Near Field Communication (NFC) trial for bus fares which is the first of its kind in Australia.

More than 30 smartphones were given to selected passengers, allowing them to pay for bus fares with a mobile application which interfaces with the NFC technology. This application provides the same MIFARE™ based open architecture platform as the transit smartcards, assuring a smooth integration into the existing system. MIFARE DESFire™ EV1 has been selected to enable secure and convenient payment experiences for automatic fare collection by using a mobile solution.

The ticket machines interface with the MSTA´s end to end public transport management system called Bus and Coach System (BaCS). The machines deduct bus fares from accounts, which can also be topped up by using the smartphone application. This application makes it possible that passengers can top up or pay the balance of it through a secure gateway from their bank.

Next to the mobile payment function, passengers have the possibility to download a real-time timetable information from a poster on the bus by holding their smartphone next to it. Further steps within this mobile ticketing trial may also include MIFARE DESFire EV1 based multi-applications which perfectly fit to NXP's vision of smart city solutions.

About MIFARE DESFire™ EV1

MIFARE DESFire EV1 is ideal for service providers wanting to use multi-application smart cards in identity, access, loyalty applications and transport schemes.  The chip's main characteristics are denoted by its name DESFire EV1 - DES indicates the high level of security MIFARE DESFire EV1 achieves using a 3DES hardware cryptographic engine for enciphering transmission data. Fire reflects its outstanding position as a fast, innovative, reliable and secure IC in the contactless proximity transaction market. Get more product information here

News to  me ...

[Golliwog]

Looking forward to something like this coming to the go card (though I think it's probably fairly wishful thinking!). I do currently have a Galaxy S3 though, which has an NFC chip in it, so if it does come I can use it. Still, kinda cool that once Comm Bank finishes working with Android I'll be able to use my phone as a paypass card.

[SurfRail]

Also news to me.  I will have to do some investigating.