Salzburg company

New cell phone ticket: up the mountain without a lift ticket

The ski ticket on the cell phone saves the hassle of queuing at the lift ticket office and cold hands at the turnstile.(Bild: Axess AG)

ATM and customer cards, even ID cards have already found their way onto smartphones. With its "Ski Wallet" on cell phones, Axess AG from Anif will soon make queuing at the lift ticket office and cold hands at the turnstile a thing of the past. Because the lift ticket goes on your cell phone.

The cell phone as a wallet has long been a reality. Now comes the lift ticket. With its "Ski Wallet", the Anif company Axess has perfected the technology to such an extent that there are no waiting times at the ticket office or cold fingers and waiting at the turnstile. The cell phone can stay in the ski anorak the whole time.

Oliver Suter, CEO of Axess, has been involved in the development from day one. "The cell phone communicates with the gate via Bluetooth Low Energy," explains Suter. "The turnstile registers exactly when and who is approaching and then opens. Without any action on the part of the user."

An app on the cell phone makes it possible: ticket purchase from anywhere and no physical ticket.(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

No need to buy tickets or go to the ticket office
The ticket itself can be conveniently booked from home or on arrival and loaded onto the cell phone. No need to go to the ticket office. A similar product from the most prominent competitor, Skidata, which is based just 2.5 kilometers away as the crow flies in Grödig, is in your pocket. One reason for this is that the "Ski Wallet" does not require a mobile phone connection or Wi-Fi.

All the cell phone needs is sufficient battery power. However, the Axess app and its use do not put any particular strain on the battery. "Our system runs in the background, without using the display. That eats up the most battery," says Suter. "Even if the cell phone stops working, the ticket is stored in the system. You can switch to a conventional ski ticket at any time."

Simple expansion possible
Axess spent three years developing and extensively testing the "Ski Wallet". The technology is already in use in ski resorts in the Czech Republic, Italy, the USA and Spain. Existing access systems in Anifer can be quickly and easily retrofitted with an extension. The company is currently in talks with customers in Austria. These include ski resorts in Salzburg.