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Mobile phone to be tested as travel card in Tampere, Finland
The use of modern mobile phone technology in current public transport systems is being tested in Tampere. The trial, involving TeliaSonera, TietoEnator and Nokia, will also collect experiences to be utilized in revamping the Tampere City ticket system.
The three are said to have together developed a service entity where the mobile phone is used as a travel card in public transport. Current travel card technologies and the mobile phone are made compatible with the new Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. The service makes it possible for the passenger to load value to his or her mobile phone - and the travel card on it - wirelessly from the network and also check the balance and history of the travel card.
TeliaSonera's role in the trial is to enable value to be wirelessly loaded to a travel card located on the mobile phone. TeliaSonera has developed a loading technology and a graphical user interface for the travel card application on the mobile phone. Managing the card by the phone adds to the service's flexibility and ease-of-use, independent of location.
Nokia has delivered Nokia 3220 phones with an NFC functionality needed in the trial, a development environment for the software used on the phones and a basic technology for the management environment used in the trial. Nokia believes the NFC technology will find its widest use on mobile phones, and is a founding member of NFC Forum, an association standardizing the NFC technology.
For its part, TietoEnator has developed a self-service entity to the web services of the Tampere City public transport. It allows the passenger to load a desired amount of value to a phone supporting the travel card functionality and pay for the value loaded. The web service works together with the management system provided by TeliaSonera and thus also makes it possible to manage the travel card on the Internet.
The City of Tampere has continued to develop the 'citizens' information society services' and simultaneously collects user experience to support the forthcoming revamp of the ticket system. The trial gives Tampere an opportunity to study the possibilities of NFC technology as part of the current travel card system.
NFC is an international standard based on the RFID technology. It enables an easy and secure use of the mobile phone as a smartcard in ticketing and payment transactions, for example. When the ticket is on the mobile phone, the passenger can load value, view past events and check the remaining balance on the phone, as well as use the phone as a ticket.
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