Pécs, February 5, 2009. – A national first, local transit tickets and passes for the city of Pécs can now be purchased and exhibited on your mobile phone, making long queues at the ticket stands a thing of the past.

The country’s first mobile-telephone based service for purchasing transit tickets and passes was launched today in Pécs. Now travelers using the Pécs Transit System can purchase tickets and passes for any route, at any time and anywhere using their mobile phones, instead of queuing up at ticket stands. The iziSHOP mobile shopping system has created completely paper-free tickets and passes, which appear only on the telephones’ screens. The payment is charged directly to the user’s bank card, not the telephone bill and there are no added service charges, nor text messaging fees. The only additional cost is for the use of the mobile internet connection (GPRS), which is only a few forints.

This new service, implemented by the Pécs Transit System, offers new, 30 and 120 minute time-limited tickets, as well as the traditional student, all-line and retiree monthly passes. The electronic tickets and passes are exhibited in a coloured, graphical format on the mobile telephone’s screen and can be viewed by the bus drivers and ticket inspectors. When the tickets and passes are not longer valid, their original colour becomes grey and a red line is visible across them. This form of ticket sales, which is unique in all of Europe, is easily accessible by foreign visitors to Pécs as well. The ticket purchasing service is available in English, German and Croatian on their telephones.

If the traveler wants to use iziSHOP for the first time, they must download the iziSHOP Java application to their telephone. This can be done by sending the code word “izishop” in a base-rate text message to 06 70 70 60 500. Within 2-3 minutes the download will be complete and the application can be used for shopping and paying. Shopping doesn’t require the user to memorize text message codes, rather all products and services are easily found in the phone’s menus. Payments are made in the same manner as online payments, by providing bank card data. iziSHOP provides the unique possibility of securely saving this information in the user’s telephone, thus when it comes time to pay, they need only enter their simple iziHSOP PIN code. Payment and bank card data security are guaranteed by iziSHOP’s banking partner, CIB Bank. iziSHOP was established in the spring of 2007 and offers, in addition to the aforementioned transit tickets and passes, highway vignettes (even annual ones) and parking tickets and passes for the city of Budapest. Users can also use iziSHOP to purchase theatre and concert tickets, magazine subscriptions (to more than 35 different magazines) and travel insurance, or to pay for online web purchases and restaurant meals! All this on their mobile phones, without service fees or text messaging charges! (Bővebben: www.izishop.eu, wap.izishop.eu).

Pécs Transit System – - www.pkrt.hu

The Pécs Transit System (PK Zrt.) runs a passenger service covering the area of the City of Pécs, with 172 buses in its fleet. At present 60 standard buses and 112 articulated buses carry passengers (approximately 71 million/year) on its 160.8 km of routes. The ownership structure of the company changed in November of 2008, when Mecsekbusz Ltd. provided a capital infusion of 1 billion forints. PK Zrt operates with the aim of providing the City of Pécs with public transportation based on high quality, modern technology to offer safe and punctual service to meet public demand. The company’s primary goals include the modernization of the fleet, the development of passenger service areas, the creation of flexible schedules to meet passengers’ needs, the sales of modern electronic tickets and passes and improved information services. PK Zrt. strives to develop effective, cooperative partnerships with the citizens of Pécs and its city council, in order to develop and run a competitive public transit service that meets the needs of the local citizens and visitors.

Hedz Hungary Ltd. - www.hedz.hu

Hedz Ltd is a software technology company specializing in unique mobile payment and mobile banking applications. Hedz offers public utilities, banks and other service providers with solutions to help increase efficiency through the development of mobile telephone-based electronic channels. The company’s main products include the HMB mobile banking system developed for banks, a highly secure authentication system iziSEC, the bill payment service,moBill, developed for public utilities, as well as a service which is one of a kind in Europe, developed for transportation and entertainment applications, allowing bank card payments via mobile telephone, iziSHOP.

CIB Bank - www.cib.hu

CIB Bank is a member of Italy’s largest banking group, Intesa Sanpaolo. In its 30 years of service, it has developed from an exclusively corporate bank to becoming Hungary’s second largest commercial bank, providing complete commercial and investment services to corporations, governmental agencies, companies and private clients. CIB is not only a bank, but a banking group, which includes a leading leasing company and successful investment enterprises. CIB Bank considers the development and support of innovative solutions to be of prime importance, thus are pleased to be Hedz Hungary Ltd.’s financial partner.