HERE and industry partners announce the formation of the Open Mobile Ticketing Alliance (OMTA)

HERE, a leader in mapping, navigation and location services, today announced that along with partners in the public and private sector it is forming the Open Mobile Ticketing Alliance, a one-of-a kind effort to develop global standards that would allow people to buy public transit tickets from a single app on their mobile devices in cities worldwide.

The aim of the Open Mobile Ticketing Alliance is to enable the vision of ‘Register once, travel anywhere’ by developing open, interoperable standards with payment vendors and transit operators.

Other founding members include transportation service providers Scheidt & Bachmann and Thales, and mobile payment provider Verifone Mobile Money. Public transit authorities implementing solutions based on OMTA benefit from lower fare-collection costs, while passengers can get the lowest possible fare based on how often they ride.

Instead of buying a ticket or reloading an electronic card, passengers will register with the service once and then they can tap phones enabled with Near Field Communication (NFC) technology at transit systems around the globe in order to travel. OMTA helps standardize the communication between phone and transit infrastructure and facilitates roaming between systems so that users can use an app they are familiar with rather than starting from scratch each time they travel to a new city.

“The OMTA is a prime example of how HERE is transforming the way people navigate fast growing cities and across borders,” said Justus Brown, Head of Urban Mobility at HERE and OMTA Chairman. “Mobile ticketing on a worldwide scale has the potential to increase the use of mass transit. With urban populations growing rapidly, public transportation will play an increasingly important role in reducing emissions and boosting economic growth by ensuring that all members of society are mobile -- not just those with a car.”

Over the past few months at the InnoTrans trade fair in Berlin and the APTA EXPO in Houston, Alliance members showcased results from pre-commercial pilots started last year and demonstrated a solution based on the OMTA standard and the HERE Maps application. HERE Maps is available on iOS, Android and Windows Phone and already allows users to plan public transit journeys in hundreds of cities around the world.

Alliance members are expected to bring products based on OMTA to consumers in several cities around the world later this year through transit agency trials.

For more information please visit HERE 360 or request the white paper describing the system from the OMTA website.

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About the Open Mobile Ticketing Alliance
The Open Mobile Ticketing Alliance was formed by four Promoter companies, including HERE, a Nokia company, Scheidt & Bachmann, Thales, and Verifone Mobile Money. The Open Mobile Ticketing Alliance is open for any industry member ready to promote interoperable mobile ticketing solutions and see value and benefits in industry collaboration. For more information please visit,
https://www.open-mobile-ticketing.com/.

About the Alliance Founding Members
About HERE
HERE, a Nokia company, is a leader in navigation, mapping and location experiences. We combine highly accurate and fresh maps with cloud technology to enable rich, real-time location experiences in a broad range of connected devices – from smartphones and tablets to wearables and vehicles. To learn more about HERE, including our work in the areas of connected and autonomous driving, visit
http://360.here.com.

About Scheidt & Bachmann
Since it was founded in 1872, Scheidt & Bachmann has become one of the world’s market leaders in innovative systems solutions for mobile living. Scheidt & Bachmann has been developing and delivering complex fare management systems for over 35 years. As a highly-experienced partner to providers of public transport services, the company brings both its many years of experience and its eye on future trends and requirements in the fare management sector to the industry.

About Thales
Thales is a global technology leader in the Aerospace, Transportation and Defence & Security markets. In 2013, the company generated revenues of €14.2 billion with 65,000 employees in 56 countries. With its 25,000 engineers and researchers, Thales has a unique capability to design, develop and deploy equipment, systems and services that meet the most complex security requirements. Thales has an exceptional international footprint, with operations around the world working with customers and local partners.

About VeriFone Mobile Money
VeriFone Mobile Money is a joint venture between VeriFone Inc. and Mobilis Networks Limited to provide complete mobile money solutions designed to meet the needs of mobile operators for telco-based money transfer and payment services in emerging markets.