Online rail retailer TheTrainline has announced that First Ondemand will provide a mobile phone security solution for its Trainline Smart - the ITSO smartcard system to be piloted this year.
First Ondemand”s system - called ”Authentisic Mobile” - will enable smartcard holders to access their online account securely from most mobile phone handsets to see what tickets are on the card. They will also be able to manage their account, buying and paying for journeys, and renewing season tickets.
”Smart technology is changing the way the world does business and how companies and people communicate,” said First Ondemand CEO Stephen Moore. ”The popularity of the London Oyster smartcard shows this innovative method of rail ticketing is clearly becoming the delivery channel of choice for many customers.”
As smartcard ticketing is extended across UK franchises in the next few years, customers will be able to buy tickets online or by mobile phone and download them onto a smartcard either at home with a plug-in reader, or at stations as each operator introduces ticketing.
The ticket on the smartcard is validated by touching it against a reader at railway stations fitted with gates, or with a handheld version onboard the train.
Trainline business development director Jeremy Acklam, said: ”Our customers want to manage their ticket purchase with minimum fuss but with maximum reassurance that the transaction is secure and complete. First Ondemand”s secure identity and authentication solution is an enabling technology which provides an essential security layer for TheTrainline”s new market leading Smart service.”
Moore added, ”The ability to incorporate an identity and authentication layer brings a greater level of client and customer assurance for transactions through the mobile phone.”