09 November 2016
Students across the UK will be able to use their smartphones as tickets on National Express coaches, thanks to an app that allows them to buy monthly travel passes online.
Masabi’s ‘JustRide’ system is a cloud-based mobile ticketing and fare collection system. It consists of apps for ticket purchase, display and inspection, together with back-end infrastructure for secure payments, ticket management, customer service, reporting and real-time analytics.tnb-national-express-2
As a part of the National Express deployment Masabi will be using Mastercard Gateway Payment Services to enable simple, safe and secure in-app digital payments.
National Express will kick off the mobile ticketing system with students, initially in the West Midlands, and will be rolling out the technology nationally over the coming months.
Daljit Kalirai, Head of Sales at National Express, said, “As part of the West Midlands Bus Alliance, we have publicly promised to encourage more people to travel on our buses by making ticketing smarter. By using Masabi’s technology, we are making everyday journeys simpler for our student customers, saving them time and helping them to manage their money.”
JustRide is already in use in major cities around the world including Athens, Boston, Los Angeles and London, and has recently launched with New York’s public transport authority, MTA.
“Our work with bus operators in the United States and Europe has demonstrated that mobile ticketing can increase efficiency and improve the customer experience,” said Brian Zanghi, CEO of Masabi. “By introducing a mobile ticketing solution, National Express will benefit from an effectively infinite sales capacity, allowing them to focus on providing the best possible service to passengers.”
Meanwhile, Lancashire-based operator Preston Buses has also introduced mobile ticketing alongside its traditional cash fares. The existing system, which requires passengers to have the exact fare at the point of boarding, is a cause of frustration and inconvenience for customers, whereas internal studies have shown that app-based ticketing can reduce passenger boarding time by up to nine seconds per person.