India: Buy Local Train Ticket Using Mobile Phone SMS
Sanjeev Devasia reports for MidDay from India about using mobile phone SMS messages to buy a ticket for a local train.
The proposed system will enable you to send an SMS, indicating the stations between which you wish to travel, and your customer ID. The server will acknowledge your message and send you a virtual ticket with a ticket number and details of your journey. If a ticket-checker stops you on the platform, simply pull out your mobile phone.Our local Caltrain and Muni services here in the San Francisco Bay Area could use a similar service for casual riders as they're all based on the "honor system" of ticketing where the rider must show a valid ticket to the conductor or fare inspector upon request. Verifying the ticket's authenticity on the mobile handset display might be a bit of a challenge - but is it really any different with the paper tickets currently in use? Here's a bloggers take on the approach.
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