Azienda Trasporti dell’Area Fiorentina (ATAF, the public transport authority in Florence, Italy) today launched its Mobile Ticketing service in partnership with Ericsson and mobile operators TIM, Vodafone, Wind and 3 Italia. The service allows customers of these operators to buy public transport tickets by text message, charging the cost to their mobile account.
Through this initiative, the Italian operators are strengthening their commitment to Mobile Pay, a platform launched in May 2011 to expand the use of mobile technology as a payment method.
ATAF is the first public transport administration in Italy to implement mobile payment services. Ericsson IPX is providing the mobile ticketing, and systems integration, service.