Rail firm to test Uber-style mobile payments system

[whole diary]

[ChrisB]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Smartphones could soon be used instead of rail tickets if an experiment by Chiltern Railways is successful.

The rail network wants to pilot a ticketing system that scans people's phones to detect when they get on and off a train.

Each journey's fare is calculated and deducted from the user's bank account.

The tests are scheduled for 2017 and the technology could be available nationwide by 2018.

But one analyst claims the tech would result in only a modest improvement in convenience for passengers.




Using a smartphone's Bluetooth signal, the app allows passengers to open ticket barriers automatically, as well as get on and off trains, all without needing to hold a ticket.

Bluetooth sensors at the gates will detect when passengers enter and leave stations, and from this, calculate the journey each passenger has taken. The app will be connected to each user's bank account and charge for train fares in a manner similar to Uber does with taxis.

A design brief, written by the Rail Safety and Standards Board (RSSB^▸ (Rail Safety and Standards Board)) and seen by the BBC, suggests that the tech could eliminate consumers' problems in choosing the most affordable ticket.

It could also eliminate long queues at ticket machines, as well as provide a "seamless customer journey", the RSSB said.

A further benefit of the tech would be to track each train's performance, potentially leading to real-time journey and delay info, as well as simplifying the compensation process for delays.

For rail firms, each customer's smartphone could provide rich data on which journeys are most popular, potentially allowing them to reallocate trains to suit demand.

However, one analyst is not convinced that the tech is much of a breakthrough in terms of convenience.

"It's not too different from tapping an Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) card on a ticket gate and tapping out the other end," said Ian Fogg, principal analyst at IHS Technology.

"All this is really saving is the trouble of taking a smartcard out and tapping it at the gate. That's a fairly small improvement."

But he said that simpler ways of proving a train has been delayed, as well as congestion tracking, would be a distinct advantage.

If Chiltern Railways doesn't provide phone charging services on the trains that will pilot the scheme, then it is overlooking a key drawback, Mr Fogg added.

Potential to revolutionise

This technology "has the potential to revolutionise ticketing on the railway in Britain through the use of an app", the RSSB said.

Chiltern said it would test the technology next year on journeys between five stations - Oxford Parkway, Islip, Bicester Village, Bicester North, and London Marylebone.

The two primary goals of the pilot are to see whether the technology works on a practical level, and if it is adopted by the public.

Dave Penney, managing director at Chiltern Railways, said the tech "could be the next evolution of rail ticketing".

He said: "We know passengers want to purchase tickets easily and travel for the best price; this app-based concept eliminates the need to pre-purchase a ticket. Bluetooth sensors and geolocation tracking are used to open ticket gates and determine journeys taken, then the customer is billed at the end of the day with a best value guarantee ensuring they are charged the appropriate fare for their journeys."

It remains to be seen whether the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)'s other 27 train operators adopt the technology.

In a statement sent to the BBC, Virgin Trains said: "We always want to be on the side of passengers and make their experience with us the best it can be." It didn't specify whether it would adopt the RSSB's Bluetooth tech.

[Bmblbzzz]

My phone doesn't have Bluetooth. Or rather it does but I never turn it on because I have no use for it and it simply drains the battery. Some people claim it's also a security risk.

Surely rather than phones it would be simpler to use contactless bank cards?

[ChrisB]

With a payment max of £30, you wouldn't be able to travel very far!

[Bmblbzzz]

It would cover quite a lot of journeys though, even if not long ones. Besides, I'd expect the banks to first increase the payment limit then quietly drop it in a year or two.

[ChrisB]

I think you'd be wrong there. Chip n Pin was brought in for a very good reason, and I don't think they'll drop this

[Surrey 455]

However, one analyst is not convinced that the tech is much of a breakthrough in terms of convenience.

"It's not too different from tapping an Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) card on a ticket gate and tapping out the other end," said Ian Fogg, principal analyst at IHS Technology.

"All this is really saving is the trouble of taking a smartcard out and tapping it at the gate. That's a fairly small improvement."

That suggests to me that if I don't have to get my ticket out I also don't have to get my phone out. How sensitive will the sensors be? If I leave my phone in my pocket, could I be letting the ticketless person in front of me through the barrier thus blocking my own exit?

[ChrisB]

The phone will have a bar code that tou need to hold to a reader...

[Surrey 455]

The phone will have a bar code that tou need to hold to a reader...

But the first post didn't say anything about a bar code. It said the ticket would be read by bluetooth.
If it were a bar code then it could potentially be slower. With paper tickets I would insert as normal. Using a contactless bank or ITSO card I could whack the card on the reader. With my phone I will want to take care of it by gently and slowly placing the phones NFC or screen to the reader. Oh and silly me, I've forgotten to unlock the screen and bring up the right app. Give me a few seconds while I do that. Why are those people tutting behind me?

[ChrisB]

Also refers to an app being connected to the owners bank account. So maybe your right, the gate communicates with the phone's app via bluetooth - presumably the owner needs to ensure that the app is open then? If not, there's a delay as you note?

But is there an app that currently uses bluetooth to communicate externally? Presumably the technology exists? Whats the default charge if the ownervfails to get close enough to the reader and follows someone out of the gate? And if that happens, how does the owner prove which station they exited? What if the gates bluetooth collapses?

Lots to work out. Brave on Chiltern for trying it.

[Bmblbzzz]

Surely the prevention of tailgating is a technology that was pretty much sorted decades ago? Whether there will be the staff to enforce it, ie prevent people jumping over or forcing their way through, is another question, but neither of these are inherently linked to ticketing.

[Bmblbzzz]

One way to trial it might be to have specific gates for this system, leaving the rest for paper tickets, similar to the separate queues for conventional passport checking and bio-wotsits at airports.

[Brucey]

Greater Anglia have been testing something similar in the last few months.  The page on their website appears to have disappeared, so I'm not sure whether it is going ahead or not.

On their implementation: you open the app and start a journey, then using bluetooth your start and end stations are automatically determined.  At stations without barriers, you just get on the train.  At barriers, you have to show the app to staff.  On train checks are carried out by showing the app to staff.  Later on (probably overnight), the back office system determines which fare would be cheaper, taking into account any possible breaks of journey or returns that have been observed.

Personally, I think a TfL^» (Transport for London - about) style contactless sytem would be much simpler for passengers to use and probably cheaper to implement.  The contactless payment providers (both MasterCard and Visa) have agreed to a new set of rules for transit based payments, including the application for transactions over £30* and not requiring a PIN every x number of transactions.

* = This is already used, as the Zone 1 to Gatwick peak day cap is £30.50.

[Bmblbzzz]

In several countries there is no limit on contactless payments. Some require a PIN, some don't. According to Wikipedia anyway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contactless_payment#Floor_Limit
It says about the UK^▸ (United Kingdom):

Some retailers will allow higher value purchases using newer hardware that supports high value purchases if the contactless authentication method is biometric (e.g. Apple Touch ID used in Apple Pay) [24]

[stuving]

Surely the prevention of tailgating is a technology that was pretty much sorted decades ago? Whether there will be the staff to enforce it, ie prevent people jumping over or forcing their way through, is another question, but neither of these are inherently linked to ticketing.

I think tailgating is still an issue, if only in the sense that you need a lot of staff to supervise the gates. In practice that probably comes down to how many hours late in the evening the gates are left open...

And then there is the question of gates for people with luggage, bikes, children etc. and whether they can run with no close supervision at every entrance. According to this article (fromRailway Gazette) people are trying to make that work with virtual tickets as well, using cameras and other sensors to monitor who or what is going through the gate:

Bluetooth-enabled ticket gates demonstrated
15 Feb 2017

The Keypass scanners would detect a passenger approaching the gate line and verify the validity of their mobile ticket, alowing them to pass through without manually interacting with a reader.

The Keypass scanners would detect a passenger approaching the gate line and verify the validity of their mobile ticket, alowing them to pass through without manually interacting with a reader.

UK^▸ (United Kingdom): Railway Gazette attended a demonstration of Bluetooth Low Energy fare validation technology at Thales UK’s Crawley offices on February 9. Organised by rail standards body RSSB^▸ (Rail Safety and Standards Board), this showed how Bluetooth could be used to improve the throughput of passengers through a ticket gateline at busy stations.

Among the applications being considered are Bluetooth-enabled wide access gates for mobility-impaired passengers, who could benefit from not needing to physically present a ticket, a ‘frequent user’ lane for peak hour commuters, or a priority gate for first class passengers on long-distance trains.

Branded Keypass, the demonstrator combines a commercially available 3D camera with an array of sensors able to detect mobile devices where an m-ticket has been activated. These sensors could ‘listen’ via Bluetooth for valid m-tickets, associate them with a given individual approaching the gateline, and open the gates to allow the passenger through. RSSB believes that this could increase station throughput as passengers would pass through the gateline without breaking stride, and without needing to physically present a ticket or device at a fare collection reader.

The Bluetooth detection, customer location and back-office software has been developed by ByteToken, the UK subsidiary of m-ticketing technology specialist Bytemark. The demonstrator uses a novel ticket gate designed by Thales which features a gantry-mounted 3D camera to track passengers through the gate. Thales believes this technology is more reliable than conventional sensor arrays, which struggle to detect the form of people passing through a gate. This in turn raises concerns about safety if the gate closes on passengers carrying large items of luggage for example. Thales is currently trialling the camera-enabled gate on the Delhi metro network and plans to install them on Amsterdam’s Noord-Zuid metro line, where conventional sensors often miss bicycles being taken through fare gates because of the gaps between wheel spokes.
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