Masabi » rail

First TPExpress Press Release: Buy Rail Tickets on Everyday Mobile Phones

Will — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 16:37:06 +0000

Buy Rail Tickets on Everyday Mobile Phones and Smartphones with First TransPennine Express Apps

No more queuing at stations with ticket machines in your pocket for Nokia, iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and other popular phones.

A local train company is launching a brand new application to quickly and easily help passengers plan journeys and purchase train tickets.

First TransPennine Express (FTPE) has teamed up with mobile app producer Masabi and online ticket provider thetrainline.com to offer customers a fun, informative and free application to make travelling by train that bit easier.

Customers can now download the free app which is compatible with iPhones, Blackberry’s, Android, Nokia, Samsung and other popular handsets. The download is available via the appropriate app stores and customers are advised to search for tpexpress. The new app can also be downloaded by texting shortcode ‘TPEAPP’ to 86688′ * and will allow customers to book train travel throughout the U.K.

The App will provide train times, fares and put the ability to purchase tickets directly in the hands of customers across the country – and all for free. There is no cost to download the app and customers are not charged a booking fee.

Vickie Tennant, FTPE’s e-Commerce Manager commented;

“We are really pleased that we have been able to develop and launch this app. It will make planning a train journey that bit easier.

“Customers can check train times and buy tickets for any route in the U.K. and we hope that users will find it easy to navigate and fun to use.

“Best of all, it’s completely free and coupled with FTPE’s great value fares and no booking or credit card fees, this app is a must for all mobile phones, not just the new style smartphones.”

FTPE’s iconic branding can be seen throughout the app and customers should find the process of buying tickets that bit easier as it will remember individual’s details including the use of rail discount cards.

Customers will soon have the option of using mTickets on some routes and services. For these journeys the ticket is sent directly to the mobile device meaning, no need for queues or paper tickets to be misplaced in their handbag or wallet.

Customers can pay for tickets by credit or debit card and all transactions are protected by award-winning, certified security software. Once purchased customers can either collect their tickets from booking offices or ticket machines within ten minutes of pressing buy.

“This application transforms the experience of buying rail tickets for consumers – whether they own a cutting edge Smartphone or a basic five-year-old handset. The user interface is designed to make finding the best priced fare easier than ever letting consumers plan trips at their leisure,” said Ben Whitaker, CEO of Masabi. “We are delighted to be working with First TransPennine Express and thetrainline.com to help make 2011 the breakthrough year for mobile ticketing.”

Richard Rowson, Product Development Director at thetrainline.com said;

“Mobile propositions have become a core area of focus for us over the past two years. The ever present and personalised nature of the mobile phone, coupled with features such as location awareness, make mobile apps arguably the easiest way possible to buy train tickets – particularly repeat purchases where previous details are stored. Our mobile apps have quickly become the most popular in the market for checking train times, and we are delighted to be working with First TransPennine Express to bring these benefits to their customers.”

Masabi CEO to Deliver Speech at The Future of Air Rail

Will — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 16:01:55 +0000

Ben Whitaker will deliver a speech on ‘Ticketing and Travel Booking’ at The Future of Air Rail conference, an international event going on in Riga, Latvia 18th-19th May.

Ben will explain how mobile ticketing provides a fast, convenient and reliable service for travellers, while at the same time offering a cost-effective solution for air rail companies who are looking to expand their ticket sales channels and reach. This will be in keeping with the conference’s theme for the day, which is “Innovation and Modern Technologies’.

The Future of Air Rail will outline latest worldwide innovations being developed in ticketing, train design, passenger information systems and airport station design, and how this knowledge and experience can be adapted to suit different markets.

Masabi Wins a Top Place on UKTI Stand at Barcelona MWC

Will — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 08:35:57 +0000

Masabi walked away from the recent Mobile Monday competition with one of the top prizes on offer – a place on the UKTI stand at the Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona!

Going head-to-head for one of three coveted places on the stand, 11 companies each made a 3 minute Dragon’s Den-style presentation to impress the judges, followed by a 5 minute Q&A. The time enforcement was rigorous and the standard of competition was extremely high, so high in fact that the judges eventually decided to award four places!

Top honours went to Masabi, for our mobile phone transport ticketing technology; Private Planet, who pitched an impressive cloud computing platform; Deltenna, for their Wifi router that runs off 3G signals; and Input Dynamics, who presented their acoustic user-interface for mid-tier mobile phones.

The stand – which we’re very excited about – will provide Masabi with an unprecedented level of exposure for our mobile ticketing technology, allowing us to showcase it to the international A-list of the mobile world.

Commiserations go to the runners-up, who pitched a wealth of innovative and vibrant ideas, and will surely be ones to watch for the future. They won’t be too disappointed though, as they also won a free pass each to the show. An honourable mention goes to PassivSystems, whose home energy-saving device and mobile app narrowly missed out on a top spot, despite delivering an exemplary presentation and product.

Thanks to everyone that attended, and to UKTI and MoMo for organising the competition!

See you in Barça in February!

Masabi Secures $2 Million Funding from M8 Capital

mark — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 09:02:02 +0000

LONDON, UK – 28^th September 2010 – Masabi, the developer of mobile ticketing technology for the transport sector, today announced it has secured $2 million from m8 Capital, the specialist mobile technology venture capital fund. The investment will be used to support commercial deployments of Masabi’s mobile ticketing systems with UK rail companies and to expand operations into other geographies.

Masabi’s “Ticket Machine in your Pocket” technology allows secure, usable ticket purchase and display on the majority of common mobile phone handsets, as well as high-end smartphones.

The company is already working with customers including Atos Origin and thetrainline.com, with the first consumer launches due in the coming months.

”As a fund investing exclusively in mobile technology, we love innovations that have mass market appeal and can improve the way we do everyday things. Masabi’s technology has the potential to remove all the inconvenience and hassle of buying a train ticket,” said Joseph Kim, Partner at m8 Capital. “From day one, we were impressed by Masabi’s groundbreaking technology. But we were just as impressed by Masabi’s success in aligning with the various stakeholders in the UK rail industry.”

“There is a clear opportunity for mobile applications to revolutionise the transport ticketing market. We have demonstrated that even everyday phones are capable of supporting secure and compelling ticketing applications and are already working on major launches set for later this year,” commented Ben Whitaker, CEO of Masabi. “This funding and m8 Capital’s considerable experience in mobile technology will greatly help to scale our operations, and accelerate the roll-outs of mobile ticketing systems across the UK and beyond.”

While it has been possible to purchase train tickets online for some time, most tickets are still bought at the station where long queues can be a problem, particularly at peak travel times. Masabi’s solution enables tickets to be bought on almost any mobile phone whilst on the move, and is designed to be easy to use, even for those who have never used a mobile application before. The application allows commuters to use their phone to search, select and securely purchase tickets using a credit or debit card. Tickets can either be displayed on the phone’s screen via secure barcode technology, or traditional printed tickets can be picked up from the train station. Rail operators have already commenced the rollout of barcode scanners on trains and at stations, with several major routes expected to be fully covered by the end of the year.

About Masabi
Masabi is a UK developer of mobile phone ticketing technology for the transport sector. Its “Ticket Machine in Your Pocket” software allows secure, usable ticket purchase and display on mass-market handsets, not just high-end smartphones. The company is already working with customers including Atos Origin and thetrainline.com, with the first consumer launches due in the coming months.

In December 2008 Masabi’s design for a secure barcode ticket was adopted as a national standard by the UK Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC). The company was also named as a Young Bull winner for the inaugural 2010 Bully Award honouring the leading European technology, media and telecommunications (TMT) companies presented by White Bull Summits. For further details see www.masabi.com

About m8 Capital

m8 Capital invests exclusively in mobile technology. Mobile technology is changing everything we do. Mobile technology is enabling services, products and information to be more pervasive, more relevant, and more convenient. m8 Capital looks to support entrepreneurs and their companies that are positioning themselves to be at the forefront of all things mobile.

Masabi Signs M-Ticketing Deal with thetrainline.com

Tom Godber — Tue, 18 May 2010 09:20:38 +0000

LONDON, UK – 18th May 2010 – Masabi, the developer of m-ticketing software for mass-market phones, today announced that it has signed a deal with thetrainline.com for a mass-market m-ticketing purchase and delivery system. The system will allow users to buy and display UK rail tickets direct from their mobile phones for any route on the National Rail network without having to visit ticket offices or ticket machines. The system is already in development with a rollout expected later in 2010.

While it has been possible to purchase tickets online for some time, the majority of tickets are still bought at the station where queuing can be a problem, particularly at peak times. The Masabi mobile application will enable tickets to be bought on almost any mobile phone and is designed to be easy to use, even for those who have never used a mobile application before. Using the application you will be able to search, purchase tickets using a credit or debit card and then either display the ticket, including a secure barcode, on the phone’s screen or collect a conventional ticket at the train station. Rail operators have already commenced the rollout of barcode scanners on trains and at rail stations, with several major routes expected to be fully covered by the end of this summer.

The Masabi ticketing solution supports the widest range of handsets, from the latest smartphones to very basic handsets. It is also designed to work in the most challenging of situations, using either data or SMS to make fully secure ticket purchases even in areas with very limited phone reception. The system uses Masabi’s award-winning, US government certified, EncryptME security to protect all transactions.

“To-date mobile ticketing has focused on niche trials, but we needed a partner able to address the specific issues of a mass-market rollout in the National Rail network.” said Richard Rowson, product development director of thetrainline.com. “We conducted an extensive RFP process to identify the best technology partner for our mobile ticket sales and delivery system. Masabi were able to offer a unique combination of security, usability, barcode standards and mass-market phone compatibility – alongside a thorough understanding of UK rail.”

“We all know the frustration of waiting for an available ticket machine or window while the minutes tick away towards our train’s departure time” said Ben Whitaker, CEO of Masabi, “By combining our mobile technology with thetrainline.com’s ticketing systems, we will be able to put a ticket machine in everyone’s pocket, regardless of what phone they have.”

About Masabi

Masabi is a UK developer of secure m-ticketing applications for the transport industry. The company’s ticketing technology is currently being used by UK rail operators. In December 2008 Masabi’s design for a secure barcode ticket was adopted as a national standard by the UK Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC). The company’s award-winning EncryptME system has been validated by BT Labs and certified by NIST, the US Government’s security standards body. In line with the latest web security standards EncryptME provides payment grade, end-to-end security for all mobile communications over SMS, GPRS, 3G and NFC on almost all handsets. For further details see www.masabi.com

About thetrainline.com

thetrainline.com is the leading UK rail ticket retailer and rail ticket information provider, offering fast and easy access to timetables, fares, reservations and tickets through its Internet site and contact centre operations in the UK train travel sector. In addition to its own website, www.thetrainline.com, it operates retail websites for a number of Train Operating Companies who sell rail tickets online, as well as providing a rail business travel service direct to a number of blue chip corporations and travel agents.

London Technology Network – Intelligent Transport

Giacomo Biggiero — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:50:00 +0000

I just got back from presenting at London Technology Network‘s Intelligent Transport event just round the corner from Big Ben.

Rail Ticketing – London Transport Network

View more documents from alexandergeorge.

The content’s very similar to the talk Ben gave at Mobile Monday a fortnight ago, but obviously with slightly less polished delivery.