Seriously, WTF. I've got to carry a phone to get on a bus, that's messed up. What if I have a phone but my battery died, or I lost my phone and am waiting for a replacement?

In Prague, Czech Republic you can apparently buy tickets using reverse-charge SMS. Can't comment on how well it works, as I haven't used public transport for 20 years. But it doesn't require any new technology to be deployed and works with all phones.

It is more than funny that Estonians are arguing in UK newsportal - out of five first comments four are from Estonians :)

Yes, it is true that ID-Pilet has been available in Estonia for years (and paying your parking ticket with SMS and many other things that make life easier). And it is not true that is they are more expensive than paper tickets. Price is the same - http://tallinn.andmevara.ee/oa/page.Tavakasutaja?c=1.1.1.1&id=113005

Simply mobile operators seem to charge extra for the SMS and that really sums up as "more expensive".

We have this mobile bus ticket for years now, but it isn't very popular because of the higher price than paper ticket or electronic ID-month ticket https://www.pilet.ee/pages.php/04030101,544

Kristjan, mobile bus tickets are in use in Estonia for almost 6 years now. They were introduced in Tartu in Spring 2003.

Well, I can tell you that a system like this works very nicely - it's been in use in Estonia for at least 3 years now, maybe more. :)

Rather than buy bus tickets from a phone, I'd rather be able to see where the bus is en route to my bus stop. Now THAT would be useful.