If you’re a transit rider in Portland, paper bus tickets and passes just moved one step closer to be a thing of the past. Portland Seed Fund alum GlobeSherpa announced today that they have closed a $1.3 million funding round, led by the increasingly active Oregon Angel Fund.
And that means that Portland isn’t going to be the only town going live with transit tickets on their smartphones.
“Transit authorities across the country and around the world are embracing mobile ticketing and payment solutions at an increasingly rapid pace because they recognize the value this technology brings to their ridership,” said Nat Parker , CEO of GlobeSherpa. “By providing an easy-to-use mobile ticketing platform for transit systems, GlobeSherpa is uniquely positioned to deliver mobile fare collection with minimal infrastructure investment.”
TriMet is now testing the technology. Originally slated to roll out this spring, it’s undergoing additional testing and is now set for a broad introduction this summer. GlobeSherpa says it’s close to a similar deal with the City of Portland for the Portland Streetcar, and is negotiating with a half-dozen other U.S. transit agencies.
And there are any number of opportunities to deploy this solution—especially after transit thought-leader TriMet has blessed it.
GeekWire and the Portland Business Journal also covered the announcement.
For more information, visit GlobeSherpa.
