ECR Retail Systems

National Express

National-Express bus

National Express needed a nationwide ticketing solution and fast!

And ECR delivered with a cutting-edge retail ticketing solution. With a need for drivers to have up to the minute booking data in order to monitor boardings and validate tickets. As well as onboard sales, drivers also need access to multiple payment methods to ensure the best experience for customers. All tickets can be validated by the in-built scanner to ensure that the business understands its customer travel patterns, but also enables protection against fraud. Sales performance is instantly available via the bespoke dashboard reporting.

National Express came to us with a clear brief: they needed to offer reliable, secure and real-time ticket sales on board their coaches, covering the entire network. The project was to modernise National Express’ ticket sales technology, and play a crucial role in reducing service delays by streamlining customer ticket sales and seat allocation process. As an additional challenge, we were also tasked with closing an important gap on ticket security. Drivers up until this point had been unable to scan tickets on boarding, therefore leaving the company vulnerable to ticket fraud. National Express needed something fast, the first pilot was to be rolled out during the summer’s Glastonbury festival, whereby festival-goers would, for the first time, be able to purchase their tickets onboard via multiple payment channels and National Express would have full control and visibility of sales, passenger numbers and boarding.ECR’s TicketPoS solution has provided the ideal solution.

Fully PCI compliant and running on the Go2 all-in-one handheld terminal, drivers can board passengers, quickly sell tickets for any given route or destination, and accept payment by the passenger’s preferred means – including contactless and mobile walletReady to take payments at the touch of a button. 4G and wifi connectivity ensure that the terminal is always in contact with head office, even when on the move, which means that passenger loadings, bookings and messaging are constantly delivered to the terminal. As a result, no seat can be double-booked, and drivers can board passengers with confidence. When selling, a large 5″ touchscreen displays available routes, destinations and ticket types, for the fastest and most streamlined selling experience.

Tickets are printed using the in-built printer, and the device also features a 2D scanner for barcodes and QR coded tickets.Each ticket is printed with a unique embedded QR code, which is reserved in a centralised digital system. This system works alongside existing online bookings and is co-ordinated by ECR’s back office technology. The whole solution provides a wider strategic business tool to provide smart analytics about on-board sales trends for marketing, logistics and customer service teams. It can also provide sales reports which includes, boarding information, service updates, departures and directions, to help streamline the running of National Express network.The programme has transformed the sales process, providing greater head office sales transparency and reducing fraudulent ticket usage. Boarding times are reduced, and passengers can buy last minute tickets using payment methods of their choice.

The terminals are cleverly mounted with no visible wiring, the main terminal being driver-facing, with the PED passenger side, ready to take payments at the touch of a button. 4G and wifi connectivity ensure that the terminal is always in contact with head office, even when on the move, which means that passenger loadings, bookings and messaging are constantly delivered to the terminal. As a result, no seat can be double booked, and drivers can board passengers with confidence.When selling, a large 5″ touchscreen displays available routes, destinations and ticket types, for the fastest and most streamlined selling experience. Tickets are printed using the in-built printer, and the device also features a 2D scanner for barcodes and QR coded tickets.

Benefits

• The sales process is reliable, quick and easy to perform, taking as little time as possible for drivers

• Tickets can be printed from the same device that is used to process card, mobile wallet and cash payments

• QR Coded tickets sent via email following online bookings can be scanned and validated using the built-in scanner and 4G connectivity

• The on-board software is easy to use and intuitive, with screens designed to streamline the process

• Intuitive solutions requiring little training for the large number of users

• With complete visibility of every transaction made, National Express can profile each route, including precise sales and boarding locations, ensuring that the maximum number of seats are filled on each vehicle throughout its journey