BeaTicket - Beacon Based Ticketing System

Abstract

Objective: In this paper, we have implemented the Beacon Based Ticketing System, which uses the bluetooth of the smartphone that senses the Beacon in the bus and interacts with the backend server to issue a ticket to the user. All the ticket generation and completion process is done in the background without the interaction of the user. Our model employs Contactless approach for Ticket Generation unlike the smartcard or token that need to be touched against the terminal. Method: The basic model of Beacon based Ticketing System consists of 3 devices: Beacon, Bluetooth equipped smartphone and server. Whenever a passenger will board a bus, beacon attached to the bus will broadcast the information which will be detected by an application installed on the user’s smartphone. There is a unique ID for every beacon and that beacon will be used to uniquely determine the bus number. The UID will be send to the server which will check for the minimum balance in the wallet which is integrated into the application itself and generate the ticket correspondingly. Now when the passenger de-boards the bus, the information is sent again to the server which deducts the money from the wallet and sends the trip summary back to the user’s device. This system increases the efficiency of the process and provides comfort and ease to the passengers. Results: This model provides Offline Ticket Generation system, it allows the user to travel without internet access, and as soon it becomes available, the locally stored board and de-board time are sent to the server, which determines the respective locations, and accordingly the fare is deducted from the wallet. The Trip History, stores the records of all previous trips and displays them to the user in reverse chronological order. Conclusion: We have successfully implemented a Bus Ticketing System based on Beacon Technology. The Ticket Generation can be done both offline and online and payment will be made using the wallet provided to each user, that is integrated in the application itself. Offline Ticket Generation allowed the user to travel even without internet access. Our model also provided Contactless feature so that the user does not need to touch the smartphone against any terminal or scan any barcode. Optimizer feature notifies the user if the bus is nearby so that the user’s waiting time is minimised at the bus stop.