Masabi, announced that the company's JustRide end-to-end Smartphone Ticketing system for transit has been named as a finalist in this year's Global Mobile Awards in the Best Mobile Innovation for 'Smart Cities' category. The first JustRide system launched on Boston's Commuter Rail Network in November 2012 and within seven weeks had already sold more than 100,000 tickets and now accounts for almost 10 percent of total sales.
The Boston system is the US's first full Smartphone commuter rail ticketing system allowing customers to use the MBTA iPhone and Android mTicket apps to purchase and then display rail tickets. Tickets are displayed on the phone's screen as an encrypted barcode and as a human readable ticket. The app can be found by searching for 'MBTA mTicket' in the Apple App Store and Google Play. Masabi technology is also used by over 13 UK transit agencies and retail brands including: Virgin Trains, First Group, CrossCountry Trains and thetrainline.com.
The Global Mobile Awards, which recognise excellence and innovation within the mobile communications industry, will be presented at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Feb. 26. The awards are judged by a panel of independent experts, analysts, journalists, academics and, in some cases, mobile operator representatives.
"The competition this year was of an exceptionally high quality, breaking all previous records," said Michael O'Hara, chief marketing officer, GSMA. "Our judging panel has assessed well over 600 entries and nominations for the 37 awards, the largest ever number of honours to be presented at the Global Mobile Awards. It is a tremendous achievement to have been shortlisted and we look forward to recognising the winners at Mobile World Congress next month."
"Since launching late last year the feedback from passengers using our Boston system has been terrific. At the same time it has shown other transit agencies the significant cost and service benefits that smartphone ticketing can bring," said Ben Whitaker, CEO of Masabi. "We are delighted and honoured to be named alongside such mobile industry leaders on this short list and look forward to bringing JustRide to other cities, both across the US and globally."
