“We chose Atos Origin because of its recognised expertise in developing and implementing mobile innovative solutions. The Atos Origin team worked very closely with the marketing team for the TER regional public transport division to deliver a successful service.” – Gaelle le Buzillier, Tikefone, Project Head for the Marketing department, SNCF Public Transport.

Business Challenge

• Improve service to customers who increasingly have more mobile lifestyles
• Reduce costs and fraud by providing a ticket-less travel solution
• Strengthen its reputation as an innovative and client-centric company in the run-up to the privatisation of railways in France, due to take place in 2012

Our Solution

• Worked together to develop a mobile paayment service using Internet over the mobile phone called ‘Tikephone’ including development of:
• the website http://www.tikefone.com/ which can be accessed using a WAP phone to purchase tickets
  the encrypted bar code which is sent by MMS to users’ mobile phones
• a specific server to host the application which sends customers text messages and MMS via French mobile telephone operators

The Results

• For SNCF the solution offered an extremely cost-effective payment solution costing only 10 cents per ticket, much less than the €5-6 cost when tickets are sold from a ticket booth
• Users found the solution simple and practical as they didn’t have to carry cash or tickets
• The system has now been rolled out to other regional train lines (TER), in particular in the Rhone–Alpes region and there are plans to roll-out to bus companies