New user media in eticketing world - frontrunning experience with Calypso technology

According to International Telecommunication Union the number of mobile phone subscriptions worldwide reached almost 5 billion at the end of 2010 in a world containing 7 billion inhabitants. Mobile ticketing systems are not yet in widespread use among public transportation providers but as the adoption of mobile phones, especially smartphones, has become so widespread and mobile internet access affordable to the masses, today’s public transportation providers have an opportunity to help enable citizens to purchase and carry electronic tickets for public transportation using their mobile phones. Good example of implementation mobile ticketing system is pilot project in Nice which start in spring 2010 and involve 3, 000 users who use their cell phones to upload tickets, check their balance and validate tickets thanks to the ticket uploading system based on NFC technology. The paper will present possibilities and advantages of using cell phone as a new media in eTicketing world and Nice case study.