You’ll soon be able to tap your phone to purchase a Virginia Railway Express ticket.
The commuter railroad on May 15 will roll out its first-ever mobile ticketing system. Riders will be able to purchase any VRE ticket – single ride, two ride, five-day pass, monthly ticket, Amtrak Step-Up ticket – with the push of a button on their mobile device.
“We’re working on a way for people to avoid ticketing and vending machines, and to makes rides easier for our customers,” said VRE spokesman Brian Jungwirth.
Riders will also be able to use transit benefits with the new mobile service.
Users must download an app to their phone that will allow them to use a credit card to buy their tickets. When it’s time to validate the ticket, a train conductor will ask to be shown riders’ cell phone screens, where the ticket will be displayed. Jungwirth said the screen would have an animated background and a QR code, so conductors know the difference between an actual mobile ticket and a computer screenshot counterfeit version.
Mobile ticketing has been in the works for years at VRE. A request for proposals to vendors who could deliver the service went out in 2013. In September of that same year, VRE awarded a $3.2 million contract to Portland, Ore.-based Globe Sherpa to deliver the ticketing system.
A similar mobile ticketing system is being used at TriMet, a public transit system in the Portland area, according to VRE meeting minutes from September 2013.
VRE users were excited about the prospect of mobile ticketing. More than 600 users signed up to beta test the new system in the first hour after VRE made a request for testers, Jungwirth said.
Moblie tickets will not replace paper tickets, according to VRE documents.
