Boston Public Transport Skipping NFC for Barcodes

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) has revealed plans for a new smartphone-based ticketing service that will make use of barcodes rather than near-field communications. The system will use software from a company called Masabi that allows passengers to purchase tickets directly from their smartphone. Passengers will then show their smartphone to ticket collectors, which will display an animated watermark with a background color that changes depending on the day. Ticket collectors can also choose to scan a barcode on the smartphone's display with their own smartphone, should they want to verify further the validity of the travel pass. The Masabi system will work with Android, BlackBerry, and iOS smartphones. The MBTA hopes to cut down on the number of tickets purchased on trains and believes this system will help. It said it decided to skip NFC-based systems because the ecosystem is not mature enough and too costly.

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