Mobile ticketing: transport and event sectors
A new report published by Juniper Research analysts forecasts that mobile and wearable ticket purchases will exceed 14 billion by 2018 – accounting for 54% of total digital ticket sales across transport and events sectors. In fact, the total number of transactions via mobile devices is expected to exceed PC-based ticket sales for the first time in 2017, driven primarily by metro and air ticket purchases.
Perhaps not surprisingly, metro, bus and airline app ticketing are the most established in terms of deployment and user adoption, followed closely by events ticketing. By 2020, Juniper projects that the number of digital ticketing users across all platforms will exceed 1.8 billion, with mobile NFC accounting for 215 million unique users.
The Juniper Research report also confirms that the majority of mobile ticketing deployments, especially in markets such as North America, continues to be dominated by app-based ticketing services, using visual or QR-code authentication. However, analysts emphasize that mobile contactless ticketing is fast becoming the de-facto mode of payment for metro and bus ticketing in selected cities, especially in Europe.
Mobile ticketing and chatbots
In addition, the Juniper Research report describes the increased integration of chatbots, noting that ticketing providers can utilize the technology to offer a range of services directly to consumers via a dedicated app.
“Whilst the potential opportunities for consumers are clear, the use of chatbots also aids ticketing providers, providing insight into user preferences and demand,” stated research author Nitin Bhas.
Initially, ticketing chatbots are expected to be deployed in the parameters of informational services such as ticket and seat availability, public transport arrivals or timetable inquiries. As Juniper Research notes, the majority of consumers will likely be wary of conducting financial transactions with a chatbot. Nevertheless, concerns are expected to diminish over the next 5 years, with ticketing transactions conducted via messaging-based chatbots reaching $6 billion by 2022.
Mobile ticketing: The future of smart travel
As ridership significantly expands in major cities, transaction speed and customer satisfaction are becoming increasingly important for transport operators. Consequently, multiple transport systems are steadily replacing paper tickets and tokens with smart cards and contactless payment cards, as well as mobile apps that allow passengers to use their smartphones to conveniently board buses, trains and ferries. For transport operators seeking to modernize their fare systems, mobile ticketing solutions, especially those that are compatible with existing infrastructure, offer the same ‘shopper friendly’ convenience consumers have come to expect from their smartphones in a transport environment, as it effectively replaces yet another plastic smart card with a secure digital travel wallet.
With a secure digital travel wallet, passengers are freed from queuing for tickets, looking after and managing physical cards or concerning themselves with having the correct change to travel. Secure digital travel wallets, such as those enabled by HCE technology, allow passengers to top-up value, purchase and load tickets and view the contents of their wallet, which can be accessed even if a smartphone is offline.
A closer look at HCE for mobile ticketing
Host card emulation (HCE) for mobile ticketing is a software architecture that emulates a traditional tamper resistant smart card on NFC-enabled smartphones. Put simply, HCE enables smartphones to act as a virtual representation of a contactless, transport smart card. This allows customers to securely use their smartphones as both a travel smart card and virtual ticket wallet.
HCE also helps maximize the potential of smartphones as a viable and attractive alternative to issuing plastic smart cards, thus resulting in significant cost savings for transport operators and greater convenience for travelers. To be sure, HCE enables operators to offer digital travel wallets to passengers without the lead production time associated with plastic cards. Once an HCE mobile transport app is downloaded, the passenger simply completes a brief registration process and is good to go. In addition, HCE offers new ticket acquiring and provisioning capabilities for transport operators.
For example, the smartphone expands ticket purchase options beyond ticket vending machines (TVM), self-service kiosks and manned point of sales. Essentially, HCE effectively transforms NFC-enabled smartphones into a TVM as well as a virtual ticket wallet. In terms of specific features, HCE solutions should provide transport operators with easy access to a comprehensive ticketing solution that can be deployed with existing infrastructure. It is recommended for services to include multiple services for operators, including customer enrollment, application activation, HCE wallet creation and provisioning Remote Management (disabling and deletion). Moreover, HCE solutions should support the migration of the application to a new handset as per customer requests, as well as reporting and access to customer and ticket wallet data.
A companion mobile app is typically included as part of a comprehensive HCE solution and should offer passengers a full mobile ticketing experience by providing payment, ticket fulfillment and self-service/management features; route planning, real-time journey information and loyalty programs; as well as additional options via geolocation and account-based ticketing.
