Mobile ticket purchases to more than double to 23 billion annually by 2020: Study

NEW DELHI: Nearly 23 billion transport and events tickets will be purchased globally using mobile handsets by 2020, according to a new report from Juniper Research, more than two times the volume expected this year.

With a number of transport agencies enhancing app capabilities and integrating new payment services such as Apple Pay, the past 12 months have witnessed an increase in mobile ticketing users using apps for payments, as well as ticket delivery and validation.

The new research, Mobile & Online Ticketing: Deep Dive Strategy & Competition 2016-2020 – found that on a global basis, airline app ticketing is the most established in terms of deployment and user adoption, followed by events ticketing.

In 2015, Juniper found that the airline industry saw the highest y-o-y growth representing a 50% increase in app-based ticketing users. Indeed, according to the latest data from SITA, mobile is becoming the favoured platform amongst passengers, with bookings made using an app expected to grow nearly 40% in 2016.

Research author Nitin Bhas added: “While app-based ticketing user adoption continues to be strong across a range of ticketing markets, sales volume growth will be driven by low-value metro and bus ticket purchases, most notably in the US market”.

However the research argued that for ticketing app usage to expand further, it needs to incorporate additional services, such as location based services – and offer a content rich experience from start to finish and beyond, ie from discovery to delivery, validation and future engagement.

The research also found that ticketing stakeholders are now realising the potential for using beacons to validate tickets as and when users walk through a gated environment with trials occurring in selected train stations.

For example, in the UK, FutureRailway, a collaboration between the RSSB (Rail Safety & Standards Board) and Network Rail, awarded a contract to Bytemark for developing a BLE-enabled mobile ticketing app.

Juniper notes that with deployments of beacons increasing across a number of locations – including trains, buses, taxis and airports – beacon ticketing will offer greater potential for passenger convenience via automatic fare calculation alongside targeted ticketing promotions and individualised content.