Acquired in a management buyout in 1987, Go North East is the founding company of the Go-Ahead Group. Go North East is now the largest bus operator in the North East of England. Now bus passengers using Go North East are now able to order and receive tickets by mobile phone, very fancy right? Well North East bus giant claims its scheme of selling bus tickets by mobile phone is first in UK.

Launched this week following a trial late last year, the service, dubbed txt2go, enables passenger to text 60060 to receive their digital ticket in a matter of minutes. In order to travel, they simply need to show it to the driver when boarding, reducing the amount of money being kept in the vehicle at any one time.

Each ticket contains coded information and is locked to the handset it was ordered from to reduce forgery attempts and increase security.

Well in here in Philippines travelers with domestic Philippine carrier Cebu Pacific (CEB) can pay for their airline tickets via the 1,700 Megalink automated teller machines (ATMs) around the country after making their booking through CEB’s call centre or by text message (SMS). Manila’s Metro Rail Transit System, i.e. MRT recently adopted SMS ticketing, which will be in action throughout MRT route. In Philippines few forms of mobile ticketing are already in use, might not be complete or efficient but still do exist. Such as –Cinema ticket, Philippine Airlines Inc (PAL) selected destination etc. SMS ticketing is new for Filipinos, no bus or ferry ticket can be bought via SMS yet! But at least it’s a start and not too late.

Other Asian countries like India, China, Taiwan, Singapore widely uses SMS ticketing, hack in fact they utilize it in every possible ways they can. So Manila might be the SMS capital of the world but still few steps behind its neighbors. Manila transport operators have to embrace technology to improve the passenger experience and their own operational efficiency. Mobile technology now offers a competitively priced alternative to paper tickets, whether it is for travel, cinema, theatre or a night club. Hmm! Hey when can I buy a ticket for Hard Rock Concert via SMS? Soon I hope