Greener New York: Commuters may soon ditch paper train passes for digital tickets

The United States is home to some 3,166,529 Filipinos, based on the 2010 Stock Estimate of the Commission on Filipinos Overseas. Some New York commuters may soon consider paper railroad passes and lines at ticket vending machines annoyances of the past now that smartphones can be used to pay for the train to work. Metro-North Railroad, the nation's second-largest commuter rail line, said on Wednesday that next month it is starting a mobile ticketing pilot program that allows passengers to buy and display tickets on their iPhone, Android or BlackBerry smartphones. Participants in the trial - initially just railway employees - will be able to download a free app to their smartphone and, with it, use their credit or debit card to buy a digital ticket. Train conductors can then check the screen of the phone in the passenger's hand and validate the ticket either visually or by using a hand scanner to read the ticket's barcode. Metro-North, which is run by the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority, said that if the pilot is successful it will expand it to include customers. Metro-North carries roughly 141,000 passengers each day, most of whom take two trips daily. "We are as excited to begin testing the next generation ticket selling technology as we were when we introduced ticket vending machines a quarter of a century ago," Metro-North President Howard Permut said in a statement. The MTA said that it was too soon to say whether it would consider expanding the service to the New York subway, a much bigger transport network with millions of daily riders. As part of the test, New York railroad staff are comparing the time it takes to use the digital tickets against the current on-board paper ticket selling, collection and inspection. They will also test anti-fraud measures, Metro-North said. New York is following the lead of Boston, where the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority plans to offer the same service this fall. Both cities are working with U.K. transit ticketing provider Masabi Ltd, which has already sold its technology to 13 transit systems in the United Kingdom. If employee and customer trials are successful, Metro-North will use a competitive bidding process to choose a technology provider to be its partner moving forward. While cellphone ticketing has been widespread in Japan for several years, it has been slow to catch on the United States. The trials comes at a time when smartphones such as the Apple Inc iPhone and phones using Android software from Google Inc are widely used. - Reuters

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Mas pinalalawig ng Komisyon sa Populasyon at Pagpapaunlad (POPCOM) ang adhikain nitong pagpapalaganap at pagpapabuti ng pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga nakakatandang Pilipino sa kanilang mga anak na nagdadalaga at nagbibinata. Nitong Setyembre 21, ang POPCOM ay nagsagawa ng isang “parent-teen talk webinar” gamit ang Zoom, kung saan ang isang “interactive program” ang nagbigay ng naaayon na kaalaman at kasanayan sa mga magulang, habang tumulong ito sa mga anak na teenager na maabot ang kanilang buong potensyal. Hinikayat din nito ang mga nanay at tatay na sumali sa malayang usapan, lalo na sa mga usapin ukol sa sex at sekswalidad, na nakikitang makakatulong upang bumaba ang mga bilang ng mga pagbubuntis sa hanay ng mga kabataan. Maaaring mapanood ang webinar sa https://youtu.be/lZ9jrJCjYas. Ayon kay Ikalawang Kalihim (Undersecretary) Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH, “ang webinar ay naging isang tagapag-simula at ‘padaluyan’ ng pag-uu
Read more

Biden said set to make push for demilitarized Palestinian state as part of new doctrine ---By LAZAR BERMAN

New York Times’ Thomas Friedman, who’s close to the US administration, says emerging doctrine would include Saudi-Israeli normalization, 2-state solution, and campaign against Iran US President Joe Biden’s administration is homing in on a new doctrine involving an unprecedented push to immediately advance the creation of a demilitarized but viable Palestinian state, The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman reported on Thursday. The plan, Friedman wrote, “would involve some form of US recognition of a demilitarized Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that would come into being only once Palestinians had developed a set of defined, credible institutions and security capabilities to ensure that this state was viable and that it could never threaten Israel.” White House officials “have been consulting experts inside and outside the US government about different forms this recognition of Palestinian statehood might take,” revealed Friedman. What he termed the new “Biden Doctrin
Read more

In Cairo, senior Hamas officials discuss hostage deal with Egyptian intelligence chief ---By TOI STAFF, AGENCIES and LAZAR BERMAN

Delegation said led by terror group’s Qatar-based political leader Ismail Haniyeh; Wall Street Journal reports Hamas demanding 150 security prisoners for each female soldier A delegation of senior Hamas officials arrived in Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian officials on a possible deal that would see the release of hostages held by terrorists in Gaza. The delegation was led by Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who lives in Qatar, and included senior members Mousa Abu Marzook and Khalil al-Hayya, the Qatar-based Al-Araby news outlet reported, citing an unnamed Egyptian source. The Hamas officials met with the head of Egyptian intelligence, Major General Abbas Kamel, to discuss the details of a hostage deal proposal that was presented to the Gaza terror group earlier this week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators. The outline of the deal was drawn up during a meeting in Paris last week in the presence of Israeli and US officials, as well as Qatari and Egyptian negotiators, a
Read more