Startup Idea: Digital Payment and Ticket Storage for Public Transit

Startup idea to develop a mobile app for public transit fares payment and digital tickets storage. Passengers can pay and get digital tickets on their smartphones, enhancing convenience for consumers, reducing waste, and streamlining the bus driver's routine.

Public Transit Wireless Mobile Pay and Digital Ticket Storage

During the warmer seasons, spring through summer, I like to take public transportation to work. To do so I have to pay for my fare each time I got on the bus and in return I get a small plastic like card, about the size of a credit card, and I have to keep track of that card for the next two hours. After those two hours are up, the card is wasted, no good to anyone.

I envision a method of paying for your public transit fares with your mobile phone. Just like when you pay at the store with Apple pay, why can't you just have a digital 'ID' code within an app that could store whether your pass is active or not? Simply swipe your phone near the device when you step on the bus and get an instant receipt for payment as well as a digital version of the pass card stored on the phone. That way there is a huge cut back on paper waste, a huge upgrade in terms of convenience for the consumer, and also an improvement in the bus drivers routine.

Its rather absurd that we have the same person responsible for operating the vehicle safely also in charge of taking passengers passes and handing them out. This physical part of the process should be eliminated and perhaps only used for rare cases such as for those who do not have phones. I envision an app that could do this with some mild hardware installation into the bus that would be a massive step forward for public transit technology.