Go-Ahead introduces ground-breaking new tap-free bus ticket system
Public transport operator The Go-Ahead Group (LON: GOG) has teamed up with technology experts to pioneer a cutting-edge system offering customers a new form of contactless ticketing.
The state-of-the-art system allows passengers to pay for their bus travel solely using their smartphone.
Customers simply link a bank account with the HOPSTA app and are automatically charged the lowest fare for their journey, thanks to terminals called iBeacons which connect to mobile signals on a phone when the customer gets on and off the bus
Passengers use the app to initiate their journey as the bus arrives and show their activated pass to the driver. On leaving the bus the fare is calculated and charged automatically, meaning that the customer does not have to worry about having the correct change or even their wallet with them!
The fare is calculated based on the location the app was last able to see the on-board bus beacon.
HOPSTA gives the power of planning a journey back to customers, by allowing them to plan and monitor their route in real time, and monitor their spend.
The ground-breaking mobile-only system has already won acclaim from the experts, taking home the Transport prize at the 2018 Smart Cities UK awards.
Following a successful trial by students; who were very complimentary about this new technology and ease of use on the University of Southampton’s buses Unilink, operated by Go South Coast, the new system is set to be piloted on a route in the North East.
Go-Ahead Group CIO Enrique Fernandez-Pino said:
“We are thrilled to roll out this radical new technology to our customers, and allow them to track and pay for their journeys in the easiest possible way. Cutting a new path with technology is something we’re proud to do at Go-Ahead, and we hope to roll out this technology on more and more routes in the future.”
It marks the latest technological innovation from Go-Ahead, which last year introduced a pioneering offer for customers to stream movies on its London Midland trains directly through a web browser and was the first train company to roll out smart ticketing outside London.
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