"W14_Fishbourne" wrote in message
ups.com...
Just to clarify, there are two separate technologies being mixed up
here.

The one that is already being used (eg on Chiltern) is for a bar code
to be sent to your mobile phone. This bar code will be read by a bar
code reader on the gateline or by a gripper with a hand-held bar code
reader. At the moment, for various reasons, this is really only
workable with pre-booked tickets so that, for example, if your battery
goes dead you are on a printed manifest that the on-train staff will
have.

I went to Birmingham and back on one of those tickets in February. I showed
the railway staff the ticket at Marylebone, but the gate staff looked
confused and appeared unsure on what to do. One of them eventually figured
out that you need a scanner to read this information, but they did not have
one to hand. So they sent somebody to get one, waving me through the gates
at the same time.

The conductor on the train to Birmingham had to attempt several reads on my
mobile with his scanner before getting the all clear, while the conductor
back to London simply looked at the text message and gave a nod.

Back in London, they also needed some time to figure out what to do before
actually coming up with a scanner.