This has been field-trialled by Deutsche Telekom Laboratories, T-Systems, Deutsche Bahn and other project partners in the "Ring & Ride" project, sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology.

This innovative mobile phone ticketing project for local and long distance public transport is based on location information from the mobile device. The traveller dials a free service number at the start of their journey and receives an SMS as a ticket. At the end of the journey, the traveller then signs off via the service number. From the two pieces of location information, the route and the price for the distance travelled are calculated from the timetable and network plans.

From April to June 2007, the system was successfully tested by 150 persons, both on local transport within Berlin and on long distance journeys between Berlin and Braunschweig. In a further technical test, the existing system was extended, particularly by new location technologies such as GPS and WLAN, which are provided by modern mobile devices.

For more information, see www.ringandride.de