San Diego MTS OKs contract for mobile ticketing app

The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System's (MTS) board late last week approved a contract with moovel North America LLC to implement a new mobile ticketing app.

Pending approval by the North County Transit District's (NCTD) board next week, MTS and NCTD will enter a cost sharing agreement for the contract for development costs and annual maintenance costs. The six-year agreement is valued at $347,500, with moovel also taking a 4 percent commission on ticket sales, MTS officials said in a press release.

"Nearly 70 percent of our customers carry a smart phone and two-thirds of them said they would likely use mobile ticketing if it were available," said MTS Chief Executive Officer Paul Jablonski. "Mobile ticketing speeds up the boarding process, and puts the ticket vending machine in the pocket of our passengers. It will make riding transit in San Diego much easier and convenient in the future."

The mobile ticketing agreement follows a three-year pilot program for special events served by MTS' trolley system. Since that program was implemented, the number of mobile ticketing transactions jumped from 7,500 in 2013 to 18,600 in 2015, MTS officials said.

moovel North America was formed through the merger of GlobeSherpa and RideScout. GlobeSherpa has created mobile ticketing apps for several U.S. transit agencies, including the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon, Virginia Railway Express and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority.