Mobile ticketing supplier Masabi has developed an Android application that allows NFC phones to read and display the contents of transport ticketing smart cards based on the UK’s ITSO ticketing standard.

The Smart Card Buddy Beta app is available free from the Google Play store and, says the company, paves the way for smart card ticket validation on low-cost smartphone hardware and could eventually allow passengers to buy rail tickets or top-up credit for their smart card on their handset rather than at a station ticketing machine.

“This proof of concept app shows that the new generation of NFC enabled smartphones can operate as ticket readers thereby letting passengers and inspectors check what’s on a smart card without the need for specialist hardware,” says Masabi chief technology officer Tom Godber.

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