LA is often known as a city where owning a car is essential, but in fact the city has a thriving public transport system in the form of the Metrolink, a passenger rail system that serves both the City of Los Angeles and the wider southern California area. Now ticketing technology specialists Masabi are aiming to make the system even easier to navigate by bringing mobile tickets and fare collection to Tinseltown.

The Metrolink, which serves Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Orange County, Riverside, Ventura County and Oceanside in San Diego County, will have Masabis cloud-based JustRide platform rolled out across the entire network, providing end-to-end mobile ticketing and fare collection for residents and tourists alike.

JustRides back-end infrastructure enables secure payments and provides the Metrolink operators with ticket management, customer service, reporting and real-time analytics capabilities. After a successful trial, mobile tickets will be available across all of Metrolinks seven lines and nearly 60 stations, with the rollout planned to be complete by autumn.

Masabis handheld Inspect validation application for Android and iOS is already in use across the Metrolink network, and optical barcode readers will be installed at station turnstiles, enabling tickets and passes purchases on mobile devices to seamlessly open gates.

“Mobile ticketing is increasingly becoming a key requirement for transit authorities both across the US and around the world,” said Brian Zanghi, CEO of Masabi. “Following on from our successes in New York, Boston, London and Athens, we are delighted to be now adding Los Angeles to the roster of major cities embracing our smartphone technology to enhance their customers experience.”

“The Metrolink Board of Directors has long stressed the importance of bringing Metrolink into the 21st century in terms of ticket purchasing,” said Art Leahy, CEO of Metrolink. “This action is an important milestone taking us one step closer to providing a digital option for Metrolink riders transferring to Metro rail. Passengers will soon be able to buy a ticket using their phone for travel throughout southern California.”

Masabi recently closed a $12m (£8.4m) funding round which saw investment from public transport operator Keolis, MMC Ventures and MasterCard.