The Association of Train Operating Companies – who do pretty much what you would expect – have put their heads together and come up with an agreed standard for electronic tickets that can be displayed on mobile phones.
The agreement means that soon all main operators will be able to sell e-tickets that you can display on your mobile’s screen in the form of a 2D barcode. Previous attempts had used propreitary encoding and would only work on the issuing operator’s network, but the new system will enable you to use the same ticket throughout your journey, even if you switch operators part way through.
The ATOC reckon that the system is sufficiently seure and difficult to forge and that around 90% of mobiles sold in the last two years will be able to display the ticket barcodes.
