Barclay’s Pingit mobile payments service is teaming up with Corethree to bring the financial institution’s mobile checkout to public transportation customers in Britain.

Corethree offers a mobile wallet for transport ticketing in Britain. By including Barclays Pingit in its wallet, Corethree can offer users more flexibility in how they pay for tickets.

“Providing a variety of native payment solutions within the application enhances the customer experience by allowing them the same type of purchasing experience that they currently enjoy from their favorite websites and ecommerce sites,” said Mac Brown, director of communications at GlobeSherpa, Portland, OR.

“In the U.S. this includes integrating with payment option like PayPal and eventually electronic wallet providers as well,” he said.

Mr. Brown is not affiliated with Barclay’s or Corethree and spoke based on his experience in mobile ticketing.

Corethree did not respond to press enquiries by press deadline.

Mobile checkout
Pingit was introduced in early 2012, enabling users to make person-to-person payments.

The app’s breadth of services have been expanded several times since to include mobile payments from NFC tags and mobile checkout for Web sites and print ads.

Corethree reports that it is the first business to integrate Barclays Pingit mobile checkout, enabling bus passengers to browse, select, purchase and use bus tickets from their mobile devices.

Wessex Bus’ Uniconnect network in Bath was scheduled to go live with Corethree’s mobile ticketing service yesterday.

Over the next 12 months, Corethree and Barclays will roll out their mobile payment services to other transport operators, with the goal of reaching up to 1 million passenger journeys per day.

The service will be available via iPhone and Android devices on any mobile network.

Mobile payments entry
Public transportation organizations around the world are embracing mobile ticketing to make it easy for riders to purchase and use tickets from their smartphones.

For example, in Portland, OR, the new TriMet Tickets app is available for use on both local buses and trains, enabling users to purchase transit tickets anywhere at any time that can be used on TriMet buses, MAX trains, WES Commuter Rail and the Portland Streetcar (see story).

Last year, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority rolled out a new mobile ticketing service, giving commuters a way to purchase and display rail tickets on their smartphones (see story).

“Mobile ticketing is a great way to introduce customers to making payments from their mobile device,” Mr. Brown said.

“Transit is an integral part of consumers’ daily lives, and as such providing consumers with a secure way to pay with their phone and not have to carry cash or exact change is a great starting point for people to get comfortable using mobile payments,” he said.

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York