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In spring 2013, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) will begin offering a new mobile tool that will enable riders to use their smartphone to purchase transit tickets.

DART will be the U.S. transit agency to use the system being developed by the Danish firm Unwire, which was awarded the $1.5 million contract late last month, DART officials said in a prepared statement.

"It offers the customer one-stop shopping for transit products, eliminating the need for a rider to search on multiple websites, and the rider can have the correct ticket delivered directly to their phone," said DART Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer David Leininger.

Riders of the Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T) and Denton County Transportation Authority will have access to the same technology when it launches, "maintaining a seamless regional transit fare system," officials said.

Passengers will be able to use credit cards to purchase any of the ticket types used by the transit agencies. Their phone will display both the actual ticket and a QR code that can be scanned by DART police and fare enforcement officers.