Mobile Ticketing for Parking
More and more local councils and private organisations have become interested in allowing parking tickets to be paid direct from a mobile phone. This involves the payment for a variety of parking services, such as:
- On-street Parking
- Off-street Parking
- Pay & Display Parking
- Parking Permits (Subscriptions or Season Tickets)
The process works as follows; a consumer would see an information point upon entry to the car park, in other areas around the car park or in close proximity to on street parking prompting them to send a text message to purchase a parking mTicket (mobile ticket). The consumer would follow the simple instructions and text the required information requested to purchase a ticket. 
As far as the customer is concerned, they would be required to send a simple message outlining their location and their registration number to a mobile shortcode.
For example, they might send CP1 (indicating cark park number 1) MJ04 VFG (their car registration) to 82540. MPP receives this message and complete payment either by reverse bill SMS, or deduct funds from an existing mobile eWallet. This eWallet may be set-up online or at the time of the first parking ticket. Further functionality allows a customer to request their ticket to be valid for a specific period of time. The validity of the mTicket is authenticated using a vehicle licence number to identify if a ticket has been purchase for that vehicle and the length of time left to run. The mTicket can be authenticated in a variety of ways, including:
- Via a Mobile Internet site on a PDA device
- Via a Mobile phone
- From a web page
- Integration with existing handheld device
MPP Global was contracted to develop a mobile ticketing system for a public transport initiative partly funded by the European Commission and spearheaded in the UK by NEXUS (Tyne & Wear Passenger Transport Executive) based in Newcastle.
The mTicket system offers a major step forward in transport ticketing and is designed to reduce the costs involved with issuing and verifying traditional tickets.
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