Public Transport 2.0

PUBLIC TRANSPORT 2.0 THE FUTURE OF TRAVEL A UK PERSPECTIVE ON HOW PUBLIC TRANSPORT IS EVOLVING TO MEET OUR MOBILITY NEEDS

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P U B L I C T R A N S P O R T 2 .0 _ W E LC O M E

WELCOME TO PUBLIC TRANSPORT 2.0: THE FUTURE OF TRAVEL THIS PUBLICATION FOCUSES ON HOW PUBLIC TRANSPORT IS EVOLVING TO MEET OUR MOBILITY NEEDS, HARNESSING NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND COMMERCIAL MODELS. WE HOPE YOU FIND IT AN INTERESTING READ AND WE WELCOME ALL FEEDBACK C O N TE N T S

57 FOREWORD Leon Daniels says we need our collective radar switched to maximum to see what’s coming

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77 FIVE TRENDS Giles Bailey identifies major societal and technological changes that are transforming transport

12 12 HAMMOCK Paul Eggleton of Hammock gives us his newcomer’s view on the future of public transport

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15 15 FLOWBIRD Providing a flexible portfolio that helps operators to bring frictionless travel to life

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17 17 TICKETER We meet Antonio Carmona, who is leading the the ticketing specialist’s overseas expansion

19 19 URBAN THINGS London-based company explains how every transport operator can make the most of passenger data

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Editor: Robert Jack / Deputy Editor: Andrew Garnett / Designer: Keith Simpson Passenger Transport Publishing Limited, PO Box 75210, London SE1P 6FB, UNITED KINGDOM T: +44 (0)20 7749 6909 / E: editorial@passengertransport.co.uk / W: www.passengertransport.co.uk / twitter: @passtrans

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P U B L I C T R A N S P O R T 2 .0 _ F O R E W O R D

KEEPING PACE WITH BIG ADVANCES LEON DANIELS SAYS WE MUST KEEP OUR COLLECTIVE RADAR SWITCHED TO MAXIMUM here is no doubt that 2020 will herald further significant advances which look to revolutionise public transport.

Now that diesel is the politically unacceptable face of motive power, cities are rapidly devising their strategies to decarbonise.

Pure electric from battery power buses are already out of the traps and being deployed in London and elsewhere. The rescue of Wrightbus by Ryse Hydrogen’s owner Jo Bamford means further deployment of hydrogen in London, Aberdeen and Birmingham. How will hydrogen co-exist with battery-electric?

Passengers are rapidly warming to contactless payments and bus/ train cash is falling as it is in retail generally. It gives new options for price capping and rewards, but most importantly now disguises the actual fare itself as it drops into an ever lengthening credit card statement littered with coffee, newspapers, magazines and other items rarely checked very carefully by the consumer. Is this our chance to ‘talk up’ our revenue?

Further up the ‘food chain’ innovative companies (like Citymapper and Zipster) are successfully offering app-based journey planning capabilities with advance ticket purchase options for many modes of travel and with the prospect of a subscription service rather than individual fares. As yet this Mobility as a Service has not yet demonstrated how to monetise this. Will 2020 be the breakthrough thanks to sponsorship or other income streams?

It feels like the likely date for full autonomous vehicle deployment without a driver might have gone back a bit as manufacturers and software houses grapple with the

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transit will be under new threat.

However, in the short term there will still be progressive changes as the role of the driver is changed – no matter whether train, metro, bus or taxi – technology will keep performance inside a tightly controlled envelope, mimicking what is already standard in aviation. This will rapidly improve safety, further reduce emissions, and other operating costs.

All this activity produces even more data so we need even better tools to give us the information we need to run our businesses, so a further raft of tools is at our disposal. But are we swamped with too much data and not enough information?

And are we not already swamped with too many standalone products for our business pipeline? Tools to evaluate performance, revenue and ridership; tools to measure the changes to costs and revenue

“One thing is for sure - all operators, manufacturers, agencies, Governments and innovators will be carefully watching every new development looking to stay ahead of their competitors and prepared for societal changes” complexity, merge their R&D efforts and swallow large amounts of cash. The lawmakers and transport agencies will welcome this respite as the international regulatory framework and mass transit policies are still under debate.

The safety and cost dividends are highly attractive but the social effect is much more revolutionary.

The car ownership model will change and traditional mass 5

for proposed alterations; and tools to optimise our driver and vehicle schedules to squeeze out more costs, real-time information, origin and destination information and so on.

How long before a much more integrated suite of tools does all of this for us in one pipeline with far fewer hand-offs and greater machine learning, so to guide businesses through revenue enhancement and cost savings?

The UK is well placed to incubate many of these elements with a whole range of transport modes across rural areas, towns, cities and at least one mega-city. But the strong need for international business travel and tourism will mean some global acceptance of both customer and business facing technical developments.

We also watch carefully developments overseas and look forward to the innovations likely to be showcased at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. There is no doubt that recent events have highlighted again the effects of climate change and this is speeding up activities worldwide, whilst much effort is taking place to harness renewable energy supplies and to remove unsustainable processes and materials from the supply chain.

One thing is for sure - all operators, manufacturers, agencies, governments and innovators will be carefully watching every new development, looking to stay ahead of their competitors and prepared for societal changes.

For this reason, no better time is there than to have our collective forward-looking radar switched to maximum so we can see what’s coming.

Leon Daniels n www.leondaniels.co.uk

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P U B L I C T R A N S P O R T 2 .0 _ K E Y TR E N D S

An Extinction Rebellion demonstration in Parliament Square, London. There will be an increasingly frenetic rise in environmentalism, with major implications for transport

FIVE TRANSFORMATIONAL TRENDS GILES BAILEY IDENTIFIES MAJOR SOCIETAL AND TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGES THAT PUBLIC TRANSPORT MUST RESPOND TO he transport industry is seeing an increasing set of new ideas and challenges arise as the world tries to deal with climate change and the need for increased global sustainability. The challenges of managing the world’s environment, and the place that transport plays in delivering our lifestyle as well as a viable economy, was again highlighted in the December 2019 COP conference in Madrid. The complexity of reaching binding agreements on climate change mitigation was again

demonstrated.

2020 will continue this trend of innovation, challenge, as well as complexity in delivery.

Here are my five key transformational trends for the mobility industry:

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Giles K Bailey is a Director at Stratageeb, a London-based consultancy assisting with strategic vision and innovation. n www.stratageeb.co.uk

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There will be an increasingly frenetic rise in environmentalism and, in particular, increasing calls for “disruptive change” by a growing proportion of the population. However, this will be contrasted with segments

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of the population who feel that substantial change is too difficult, disruptive to their existing lifestyles or simply not really required!

The conflict between these two views is set to grow increasingly sharp and divisive and will impact personal behaviour and choices as well as many aspects of local, regional, national and global politics and business. This will impact many sectors of the economy beyond transport such as environmental protection, retailing and the circular economy.

Impacts we have already seen

P U B L I C T R A N S P O R T 2 .0 _ K E Y TR E N D S

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A cyclist in central London. The rise in cycling is focussing the minds of transport professionals worldwide

include flight shaming in Europe, increasing numbers of low emission zones in cities, demands for mass roll outs of electric vehicles as well as the ongoing Extinction Rebellion protests in the UK and elsewhere.

For many action is required by government, businesses and individuals now and disruptive pressure to see that these actions are delivered will be used.

Creating universal consensus is deemed an impossibility, and this will sharpen the conflict in the environmental, and hence transport, debate.

The continuing rise, or return, of cycling, walking and micro-mobility transport solutions will increase in 2020.

With the exception of The Netherlands, Denmark, a few cities in Germany and selected other cities around the world such as Cambridge, UK, cycling remains a growing, but niche, mode of transport with usage levels below 5%.

An emerging consensus amongst transport, health and sustainability professionals and demonstrated

“[The] rise in cycling is focussing the minds of transport professionals worldwide. In particular, how can transformational policy, land use and design be retrofitted into existing cities to make this a reality?�

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by the work in the above locations that have increased cycling to a major mode of travel is that the effects can be transformational in delivering a new transport system as well as a compact and sustainable urban form.

This rise in cycling is focussing the minds of transport professionals worldwide.

In particular, how can transformational policy, land use and design be retrofitted into existing cities to make this a reality? How rapidly can behaviours be changed to substantially embrace these

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A WeWork office in central London. New models for shared offices have emerged to meet growing demand for remote working

One of the most significant trends in mobility is the trend to not travel. Remote working - whether working more locally to home, remotely from the central office, or more closely to clients has been talked about as a transport trend for decades. What has transformed this theory has been the rise in low cost, effective technology to enable such behaviour such as cloud computing, smart phones, social networks and laptops. As well as the growth of new models for shared offices typified by WeWork, but including many

“Every transport operator labour dispute, severe weather incident, system network disruption, corporate restructure or downsizing… increases the number of people who make the move to flexible ways of working”

modes? And how quickly can these higher rates of cycling be delivered?

Alongside the rise of cycling is the sister-mode of increased walking and walkability in urban areas as well as the rise of micro-mobility modes – whether electronically powered or not that support this transformation.

Of note is that the debate continues as to whether e-micromobility should be part of the walking, cycling, or road (car) infrastructure and how to merge all of these growing modes into the limited urban space of cities.

A debate continues over how e-micro-mobility should be integrated into urban spaces

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other providers.

Humans are social beings and we are not about to see all of us become housebound throughout the day moving between personal and work lives without even changing out of our pyjamas!

However, the increasing trend will see part, some, or all of the work world merge into a seamless set of flexible locations and times. Every transport operator labour dispute, severe weather incident, system network disruption, corporate restructure or downsizing… increases the number of people who make the move to flexible ways of working.

This has huge implications for the transport system. Peak period commuting has often been seen as one of the worst experiences of the day for most workers. Many are now simply refusing to do it and will be increasingly more selective in who they work for and in when and how they choose to travel in order to increase their life satisfaction. Peaks will spread, become more erratic and multidirection. They will become more local to residential areas. Travellers will seek to combine multiple trip purposes and increasingly trip chain. This will increase demands for better information, more comfort, accessibility and flexibility in the transport system.

P U B L I C T R A N S P O R T 2 .0 _ K E Y TR E N D S

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An underlying but powerful trend in mobility that will only become increasingly dominant is ageing of societies around the world. In the UK, the number of over 60s is expected to rise from 15 to 22 million between 2014 and 2039. This will impact everything from politics, to retail, to leisure, our views of success to our perceptions and need for transport.

Previous optional additions to the transport system to deal with the concerns of older travellers will increasingly become the essentials and simply unacceptable to be without. In many cases this may be simply more space to sit or stand comfortably, better lighting, and clearer routes, availability of toilets, improved maintenance of pathways, better designed and more useful final mile mobility solutions or the often quoted need for level access to all transport systems and networks.

5 The ageing of societies around the world is an underlying but powerful trend

Not dealing with these issues will increasingly impact modal choice and put many existing providers at an increasing and perhaps unsustainable operational disadvantage in the transport market. These issues will also refocus the industry on some more useful user cases for autonomous technologies.

“Society will increasing want more accurate, … faster, more reliable information and systems to increase the efficiency and pleasure of life”

Finally, I have purposely concentrated on lifestyle, behavioural and social trends in this list and have purposely left to the end - digitisation – of everything!

Society will increasing want more accurate, more personal, more integrated, faster, more reliable information and systems to increase the efficiency and pleasure of life. Not all of this will be done via technology or a smart phone.

Digitisation may be used to increase the productivity of staff, for example at rail stations or of bus drivers in negotiating traffic disruption, in targeting deliveries, or simply delivering truly 21st century replacement bus services.

But, the underlying ability to increase the productivity of systems means that this trend must be central and delivered at an ever increasing rate across the mobility industry.

Welcome to 2020!

Digitalisation: Society will increasingly want more accurate, more personal, more integrated, faster, more reliable information and systems to increase the efficiency and pleasure of life

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P U B L I C T R A N S P O R T 2 .0 _ G O - A H E A D

New approaches and fresh insights are what every industry strives for. It helps keep products and services relevant

A FRESH LOOK AT PUBLIC TRANSPORT PAUL EGGLETON OF HAMMOCK, PART OF THE GO-AHEAD GROUP, GIVES US HIS NEWCOMER’S VIEW ON THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT hroughout my career I’ve been lucky enough to work in a variety of roles and sectors and, now that I have joined Hammock and the Go-Ahead Group, I have the opportunity to pivot again and bring something new. Having worked for companies such as Telefonica O2, Mitie and Kodak, this is an exciting departure for me. Public transport is one of the most complex and challenging industries there is to develop a customer-centric offering; being the ‘new boy’ has its advantages, as I’ve been able to

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look at this marketplace from a different perspective, unrestricted by industry knowledge.

they all have in common is their ability to provide solutions and save us time and money, and make our lives more convenient. Public transport needs to stay ahead of the curve too and, with over 55% of the world’s population living in towns and cities, a figure forecast to increase to 68% by 2050, we need to keep innovating to meet changing customer expectations, while adding value and reducing our environmental impact.

As many countries struggle to meet the housing, educational, health care, energy and transportation needs of their

Staying ahead of the curve New approaches and fresh insights are what every industry strives for.

It helps keep products and services relevant, demonstrates the brand’s social awareness and drives popularity. The ability to look beyond the obvious has brought us many services that have tangible benefits and make our lives easier - Airbnb, Deliveroo, Uber and, of course, Amazon, are just some recent examples. What 12

growing urban populations, while at the same time trying to make everything as sustainable as possible, it’s sometimes easy for the focus to drift and to be consumed by the minutiae, rather than fixed on the big picture.

Public transport helps solve lots of the issues that cities face from education and employment to social inclusion whilst being sustainable for the future.

My varied background has given me the opportunity to look at this sector with fresh eyes and, what has struck me, apart from the enormous

challenges that every government, authority and operator faces, are the incredible benefits that result when organisations work together, develop shared goals and when they are generous with information. This highly collaborative way of working only has positive outcomes where we all learn and lay the foundations for future improvements.

Artificial Intelligence for data gathering Talking of collaboration, we recently partnered with a camera and artificial intelligence (AI) provider to help provide passenger insight and to inform future operations and procurement policy for a bus operator. Like all buses in the UK, its contactless ticketing only recorded passengers boarding, not disembarking; but, with statistics on specific individual passenger journeys, the operator could optimise route management and improve the customer experience. Cameras and AI were programmed and deployed at ground level on the entry and exit points of buses so that passengers could be recognised by their footwear (eliminating any GDPR issues) when they boarded and disembarked. This information was relayed to a back-office system that was able to provide detailed route analyses.

Following an initial trial period, the operator has identified a number of areas where they can make improvements. First is route optimisation; routes and timetables can be adjusted, based on actual use, which improves the customer experience. Second is a reduction in operating costs; the statistics have enabled the operator to decide on whether a single or double decker bus would be most appropriate for a particular route. Third is bus procurement; traditionally this would have been influenced by high level modelling of expected bus use, but now the decision on whether to buy a single or double decker bus is based on hard evidence. This also affects future investment strategy, which will enable the operator to significantly reduce its costs over the life of the service. AI is used in many

industries to provide new insight but using it to recognise footwear was transformational for this bus operator.

those who’ve gone digital it’s been a game-changer.

Digital transformation improving operational efficiency Understanding and improving the customer experience will always be vital, but there are practical issues to consider when running bus fleets and here integrated data management comes into its own. Last year we developed a bus checking app to replace daily paper checks and allow the bus status and defect data to be immediately integrated into the asset management and maintenance system, creating valuable management insight.

The app puts an end to the old-fashioned paper-based daily vehicle check, making the whole process faster, more accurate and effective. The structured inspection routines and data input promote greater consistency and reduce the margins for error, enabling the operator to take pre-emptive action and engineers to plan repairs. The app not only helps keep more buses on the road but reduces operational costs too.

Currently 75% of bus operators use paper-based checks, but for

We developed a bus checking app, putting an end to the old-fashioned paper-based daily vehicle check and making the whole process faster and more accurate

“We still need to work far harder to get people out of their cars and onto public transport, how else can we reduce carbon emissions, pollution and traffic congestion in towns, cities and around every school?”

A force for social good We still need to work far harder to get people out of their cars and onto public transport, how else can we reduce carbon emissions, pollution and traffic congestion in towns, cities and around every school? We must support customers to experience the positive benefits of using the bus or train, and technology plays its part. Features like automatic delay repay, daily fare capping and apps, we’re already helping them to understand their options and make the best choices.

I believe that mobility is at the heart of any successful and inclusive society and, when done well, has the power to dramatically improve lives. It doesn’t just help people get to work and access health care and education, it will help improve the environment. To make this work, mobility must be joined up and work across all types of living - city, town and rural - from the first mile to the last. The positive impacts of mobility and public transport on climate change are well known and, as part of the Go-Ahead Group, a driving force in sustainable transport, Hammock’s role is clear.

ABOUT HAMMOCK ammock, part of the Go-Ahead Group, is a new mobility and digital transportation services and consultancy business. The team is uniquely placed to help governments, authorities and operators leverage innovation and technology to meet their customers’ mobility needs.

Its services range from consulting and programme management, through to fully delivered managed services across Account Based Ticketing, retail, digital transport solutions, and bus and rail operations. It operates internationally and has the experience and expertise in delivering solutions in some of the most innovative transport markets in the world, including the UK, Germany and Singapore.

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SMART TICKETING

DIGITAL INNOVATION

FUTURE FACING

n Account Based Ticketing solutions

n Go-Check app for bus fleet management

n Smart Cities

n Project strategy, design, implementation and operation

n Environmental improvement

n Carbon reduction

n Demand Response Transport

n System integration for Smart Ticketing

n Hydrogen and electric buses

n Digital Depot

n Rail operations and procurement

n Omni-channel retail solutions

n IIoT strategies and data collection

n Project management and change management

n Data analytics and insights

n Fraud and revenue protection

n Sustainability strategy

n Accessibility n Programme and project management n Mobility as a Service

n On Track Retail

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P U B L I C T R A N S P O R T 2 .0 _ F LO W B I R D

BRINGING FRICTIONLESS TRAVEL TO LIFE FLOWBIRD HAS A FLEXIBLE PORTFOLIO THAT HELPS OPERATORS JOIN THE ACCOUNT BASED TICKETING AND OPEN PAYMENTS REVOLUTION loud-based innovations in ticketing, fare collection and system-wide management are transforming the ability of transport operators to deliver value to their customers across every mode of transport.

A key player in this digital revolution is Flowbird Transport Intelligence, harnessing the power of data to create customer facing and back office platforms aligned to the vision for Mobility as a Service (MaaS).

Whether for rail, bus, metro, BRT, ferry or tram... or any combination of mode or operator, the company’s expertise is driving cost and efficiency improvements by shifting core ticketing and related functions to a secure cloud environment, reducing reliance on local ticket issue, cash handling and associated infrastructure.

Flowbird, one of the world’s leading urban mobility systems providers, has launched a new flexible and modular portfolio that helps operators to join the Account Based Ticketing (ABT) and Open Payments (OP) revolution at their own pace, making it easier, safer and quicker for their customers to access and pay for journeys.

Through OP and the CloudFare® back office platform, Flowbird ABT enables bank cards and digital devices to be used as travel tokens, automatically assigning the most relevant fares rules for every journey, irrespective of journey complexity or transport method.

It enables passengers simply to ‘tap and go’ - there’s no need to queue at sales points or manually select the journey and fare configurations.

In towns and cities around

CLOUDFARE

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loudFare® is Flowbird’s modular, scalable and flexible platform delivering remote management and control of multimodal network assets and systems, including ticket retailing infrastructures of any size. Its multi-layered approach enables operators to take a system-wide view of performance in real time - and to quickly identify and resolve issues at a device level. At the same time, its intuitive, visual analytics can drive operational improvements while creating scenario-based future modelling for longer-term planning.

With CloudFare®, network owners and operators can: n Define multi-modal transport routes and fare options; n Monitor assets and resources remotely via customised dashboards; n Create automatic system alerts and track resolution; n Monitor and control ticket retailing devices remotely and directly; n Monitor route performance in real time; n Manage passenger accounts linked to Account Based Ticketing and be part of a Mobility-as-aService solution; n Sharpen operational and marketing performance through sophisticated data analytics; n Understand more about how their customers travel.

Cloudfare® modules enable management of a wide range of functions, including fares and topology, mobile ticketing, account based ticketing, security and asset management - all available in a feature rich, scalable, cloud-hosted environment. It also provides an intuitive web interface, multimodal, multi-operator capability, third party API integration and ‘always online’ communication. n www.flowbird.group/transport

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Lothian Buses has seen the rapid growth of Open Payment transactions, displacing cash

countries want to make it easier for their customers to access public transport and to have data-driven insights into how they can serve their customers better,” said Owen Griffith, Flowbird’s Managing Director. “At Flowbird, we are keen to encourage people to choose sustainable modes of transport and we believe that Account Based Ticketing and Open Payments can be helpful in this.

“For operators, the convergence between ticketing and electronic banking facilitated by CloudFare® can speed up boarding times and make it easier, quicker and safer for people to access and use public transport. This helps to encourage people away from cars to more sustainable modes of travel.”

Flowbird is helping operators keep pace with customer demand for payment options through innovations in its driver consoles, self-service retail systems, validation technology and back office architectures, enabling users to access travel through multiple payment methods.

the world, Flowbird is helping operators respond to growing consumer demand for frictionless travel. For example, for Lothian Buses in Edinburgh, the company has already seen the rapid growth of OP transactions displacing cash transactions through Scotland’s first ever ‘tap & cap’ contactless payment system.

At the same time, Flowbird’s back office architectures are creating flexible, modular and scalable solutions for the management and control of network assets and systems, including ticket retailing infrastructures in France, Northern Ireland, the United States, Finland, Australia and beyond.

With an ABT system there’s no need for passengers to buy a ticket in advance of travel, which makes it easier for people to access the public transport system. For operators, there is the opportunity to choose from a range of fare structures, including the option for a ‘best fare’ guarantee “We are seeing that transport operators in many different 15

Together etheer we can make eth mak Mobility as a Service a reality Providing current information and the ability to pay for travel in the most convenient way will give passengers the freedom to make the right travel choices.

0203 195 8800 www.ticketer.com sales@ticketer.co.uk

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P U B L I C T R A N S P O R T 2 .0 _ T I C K E TE R

A DECADE OF DIGITALISATION? WE SPOKE TO ANTONIO CARMONA WHO IS LEADING TICKETER’S OVERSEAS EXPANSION his looks set to be a big year for ticketing and payments specialist Ticketer as it looks to bring its popular solutions to a wider international market in 2020. Those plans have been boosted by the recent acquisition of Norwegian firm FARA, a company that Antonio Carmona, Ticketer’s recently appointed General Manager of its international operations, believes has numerous synergies with its new parent.

“The short-term impact on Ticketer’s international footprint is clear: there’s an immediate expansion and leadership position in the Nordics,” he says. “But in the longer term, we also see great value in the combined Ticketer and FARA offering.”

Carmona, who has over 15 years of experience working with cities and mobility operators, believes that Ticketer has built a leading position in the UK in record time as a result of a very simple recipe for success - have something really good to offer, treat your customers with honesty, support them to the hilt, and always do the right thing.

He continues: “Our ethos, in combination with a cloud native Software-as-a-Service backend, allows us to serve operators and authorities of any size with a market-focussed product at a fair price; which, in a crowded international market, is the differentiator that we trust will help us to strengthen our expansion.”

And Carmona intends to leverage Ticketer’s skills as an innovator. The company led the field when it came to introducing contactless EMV payments in the UK mobility market and with

‘mobile wallet’ – a concept that allow users to hold their funds in digital accounts on their smartphones. To receive their payment, merchants simply scan a QR code from the phone. It’s eerily familiar to the QR-code based system that Ticketer has had in place for some time.

However, Carmona believes that account-based ticketing will be the real game. “It is more than just a technology; it is a new customerrelationship model that brings an incredible user experience,” he says.

“It is no longer important what you bring to enter the mobility network but who you are.”

Today these systems use contactless bank cards, mobile phones or smart watches as tokens but Carmona believes the next decade will see a reduction of friction in the way the users are identified. “The most natural and convenient method being biometric identifiers, such as our faces,” he adds. “After all, our faces are the genuine proof of who we are.”

These new forms of technology are also changing the mobility landscape too. The 2010s saw the rise of the smartphone and the digitisation of payments. This

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Antonio Carmona

“Our ethos, in combination with a cloud native Software-as-a-Service backend, allows us to serve operators and authorities of any size with a market-focussed product at a fair price” an ever growing move towards such payments within society as a whole, he believes that digital payments will be the key trend of the next decade.

“We see a consistent reduction of the use of cash globally and in all sectors,” he says. “The use of cash in public transport impacts heavily, and negatively, on the performance and user experience, whilst the new mobility services are naturally designed for digital payments.”

He believes that bank cards are a great alternative to cash, but they are not the only option out there. In developing economies, a number of options to the traditional banking industry have appeared and many of these are based around the idea of the

has spurred on a range of new alternative mobility modes, from vehicle-sharing to ride-hailing and, more recently, micromobility. However, the financial performance of some of these innovators has been wanting.

Carmona points to a number of free-floating bike-sharing, moped and scooter sharing operators who have come and gone. Meanwhile, a number of well-known industry players in the ride-hailing space have also struggled financially.

“The new mobility modes cannot exist by themselves alone,” he adds. “There is however, an unmatched opportunity for public transport to lead the way. It is difficult to beat mass public transport when it comes to capacity, efficiency, and cost effectiveness in congested cities, and therefore it must remain as the backbone of mobility.”

He believes that the 2020s will be characterised as the era of extended interoperability, and extended fare integration. This will go beyond traditional public transport and will put the passenger at the centre, where an informed and digital customer will be able to choose among a number of doorto-door mobility alternatives, that will be consumed seamlessly.

“It will also be decade of data in transport,” Carmona adds.

“Mobility operators will start to build and exploit intelligence from the data they collect. This will give them more insight into their customers’ requirements and therefore be able to better tailor their products to passenger needs.”

n www.ticketer.com

MaaS WILL TRANSFORM PERSONAL MOBILITY icketer believes that the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) concept will come to the fore through the coming decade and act as a game-changer, stimulating significant modal shift.

"We understand MaaS as an extended interoperable mobility network; where public transport is complemented by a number of new mobility modes," explains Carmona. "In this context, we see a bright future for public transport, with micro-mobility and other first and lastmile networks bringing more passengers to main transit routes."

He also suggests that some low demand fixed bus routes could be converted to an on-demand-style operation, a move that will offer an even better service to passengers. "It will allow sustainable mobility to finally win the battle against the private car," Carmona adds.

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P U B L I C T R A N S P O R T 2 .0 _ U R B A N TH I N G S

SMART TICKETING URBANTHINGS EXPLAINS HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF PASSENGER DATA oday’s passengers are demanding more than just being able to get from A to B. They want to purchase their tickets via mobile, plan their journeys using real-time travel information, then pay for them afterwards with as little friction as possible. Operators large and small are tapping into this shift in attitudes by using the latest technologies to cater to these demands and entice more passengers on to their services.

At the centre of this revolution are two key principles: avoiding technology-lock-in and collecting passenger data. By choosing a ticketing solution that isn’t solely tied to one technology or standard, operators can futureproof their systems, to remain compatible with the tickets of both today and tomorrow. By capturing passenger data, operators ensure they retain both a relationship with their customers, and also the analytics necessary to optimise their services, so they remain competitive and stay relevant.

With its unique ability to offer both m-ticketing, RTI and to gather rich passenger data, only a mobile-based solution can fully deliver on these key requirements. Fortunately, while the transport industry may have lagged behind in terms of mobile innovation, it is catching up fast. As long-time innovators in the intelligent mobility space, UrbanThings believe that a future where mobile can completely replace all ticketing hardware and infrastructure isn’t too far away.

Our smart ticketing platform Ticketless™ is designed from the ground up with these key requirements in mind. Ticketless™ consists of a white-labelled passenger app for retail, and passenger data capture. This

T

Upon boarding, the passenger scans a unique QR code on the Hex Tag to validate their mobile ticket. This fresh approach saves operators money on costly onboard hardware, yet still allows them access to the same rich passenger data as alternative solutions.

is coupled with a cloud-based mobility platform that provides exceptional analytics and is fully extensible to support Mobility as a Service (MaaS). Crucially, tickets are fulfilled in a way that is technology agnostic. If a transport operator’s fleet has on-board hardware, the platform can support barcode ticketing or contactless tap data. For smaller operators, we’ve developed a hardware-free solution.

Unlocking passenger data Understanding when a passenger boards a vehicle is useful, but to unlock more innovative fare models and richer analytics, knowing when they alight is critical. In transport networks that are not typically gated such as buses and trams, this has traditionally been a challenge.

A ‘Tap On/Tap Off ’ system, whereby passengers tap their pass or smartphone while leaving, goes one step towards solving

What are Hex Tags?

Our innovative Hex Tag technology flips around the traditional concept of onboard ticket validators, turning the passenger’s smartphone into the validator instead. A Hex Tag is an industrial-grade sticker which is fixed to the inside of a vehicle.

UrbanThings has launched its Hex Tag technology with Pilkington Bus in Lancashire

ABOUT URBANTHINGS rbanThings is a London-based technology company specialising in intelligent mobility, and running a range of smart ticketing platforms across Europe.

UrbanThings will be at Transport Ticketing Global in January 2020 where you can find out more. Alternatively, you can get in touch with our team to see how we can help you implement a new smart ticketing platform and increase your ridership through mobile ticketing. n www.urbanthings.co

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this issue, however, this can increase dwell times and add friction. UrbanThings is able to circumnavigate this issue by incorporating Bluetooth beacons into the Ticketless™ platform.

When a passenger checks-in with a Hex Tag, their smartphone is detected by beacons placed within the vehicle. As the passenger disembarks, the connection with the beacon is lost, and a check-out event is issued to the back-end server. This is known as CiBo (check-in, be-out).

Hex Tags and Ticketless™ lay the foundations for a fully BiBo (be-in, be-out) system, therefore providing a completely frictionless passenger journey. Using this data not only means that money can be saved by improving operations, but routes can be planned based on actual passenger behaviour.

Better routes provide a better passenger experience, and therefore encourages more people to use public transport.

How they are being used?

Hex Tag technology is already being used by a number of operators in the UK without onboard hardware. In Lancashire, a local bus operator is using them on their school services. The high entry barrier to hardware-heavy solutions and incidents of ticket fraud had caused issues with their previous mobile ticketing product.

Now, several hundred students ‘scan’ their way onto the bus each morning. Since implementing Hex Tags they have seen an increase in ticket sales and ridership. Features such as parent notifications and ticket gifting means that more parents now have the confidence to send their child to school by bus.

In another user case, an operator near Cambridge is using Hex Tags on their private services for a local business park. Hardwareheavy solutions were impractical and expensive, yet the provider wanted a way to capture passenger data for apportionment of fare subsidies and service optimisation.

UrbanThings worked with the operator to provide a secure system that is only available to verified employees of companies based on the park, providing an affordable yet private service.

STAY INFORMED AND SAVE MONEY FO E RTVE NI RY GH T

COMMENT NEW MOBILITY

GILES BAILEY

pedestrians and now cycle lanes, and it offers some space for traditional car parking, but also for new shared car services as well as cycle parking and new micro-mobility devices.

I would argue that this is all a result of an element of luck in how the city has been developed over hundreds of years and particularly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This streetscape seems to offer a stability of space for the current range of mobility innovations. In particular, it is much more spacious than the urban environment seen in a city such as Paris or Brussels, where on-pavement provision for new mobility solutions along with supporting Berlin has for a number of general road traffic and walking years been one of the world’s and cycling creates cities for innovation and, leading substantial congestion and in particular, mobility innovation conflict for almost all other users of the street.

The urban street design in I have visited Berlin a number Berlin is of times over particularly interesting for then build a new mobility the years, but it was interesting shared car eco-system. to reflect opportunities. The widespread New mobility on the current state of the solutions without a robust use of on-street city’s mobility base communal parking throughout of public transport do not landscape. As the largest the city provide a robust city in Germany, general provision of pavement/stree and framework on which to encourage Berlin has long been one t-side long term of the leading cities space although much of this consideration of alternatives for innovation and, in particular, is used by private to private car mobility cars - offers the ability to use. As an extreme case, innovation. Car sharing have a number of consider some of the services Car2go and shared car operators in the suburban and low density DriveNow have both been city and these situations in the leading players services appear frequently United States where ride in the city for a number amongst otherwise sharing may challenge of years as have private parked cars. This some private car use, but numerous other innovators. presents shared is unlikely to offer Along with other cars as a very obvious comparator universal and affordable leading European and global with the mobility at scale. cities such as private car market and certainly Berlin also has inherited Paris and London, much stimulates an interesting is continuing to occur urban consideration of form - in terms of European the option. Moreover, even in the city in terms of mobility. cities. It has many with the recent merging of Daimler’s of the characteristics of Berlin’s history as a divided a typical European Car2go city and renewed and BMW’s DriveNow as city. It contains large areas capital of Germany has led ShareNow, there of 18th and 19th to a large need for are still a range of other shared century row houses, in this transport system rebuilding car operators case typically and development in the Berlin market such five to six floors high, lining over the last 25 years. The as Ubeeqo offering city streets with scale of infrastructure choice to the user and delivering interior courtyards offering reconstruction has been an open some limited immense and mobility marketplace with parking, service access as continues. The public transport consumer choice well as green space. system has not This is and availability. typical of what is seen in CAVForth been extensively project (PT197). expanded a Spanish in coverage Like most German cities city such as Barcelona, but This much more ambitiousbut the quality of the infrastructure the classic taxi at a higher density has significantly is still very widespread. They are trial brings together Stagecoach, than the typical residential improved. Expansion available terrace houses of the overall network at numerous taxi ranks and Transport Scotland, seen in a UK city such as coverage is now ADL, can be hailed on London. The city finally underway including street. Berlin is one of the Fusion Processing, also has developed relatively Group, U-Bahn expansion four German cities wide streets and, and furtherESP extension of the importantly, Edinburgh in which Uber operates.

Napier University and tram network to the western However, unlike in spacious pavements. Many of side of University of the West the city. many global cities, this business these residential areas have of England.

Fundamentally operates with also developed, in however, The partners Berlin have an professional drivers. Berlin beenhas awarded a modern context, with on-street extensive, frequent is also interesting funding and communal high quality of £4.35m public by the UK in that the local public transport parking for local residents. transport system operator government’s The urbanised form BVG that offers Innovate muchUK. of what has done a partnership deal thus, supports density, has would be expected with The vehicle small on-street room for by many used in the European leading vehicle transport operator cities. The system ViaVan to operate Manchester trial, like also seems those to be adopting a joint service covering parts the latest keyplanned of the city. The the wider trendsfor in user experience service is very visible in many CAVForth via technology. project, can operate parts of the city.

Public transport is also Clever Shuttle, amongst autonomously to Level relatively inexpensive other operators also 4 standard. to the user. All of these has a shared vehicle service This means that characteristics a safety driver in the city. are a critical base which to Overall, this range of private must remain on boardon in line with and shared taxi current services provides quite a 40 | 28 June 2019 UK regulations. range of options for However,

INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY

Stagecoach trials ’s first autonomous UK bus

when driven in manual mode, the CAVStar system can also warn the 40 driver of cyclists and pedestrians that may be in the bus’s blind spot or arrive unexpectedly close to the vehicle.

The project partners say this could lead to potential road safety benefits.

Perhaps referring to growing concerns about autonomous technology meaning the bus driver might one day be redundant, Stagecoach chief executive Martin Griffiths said the group’s employees “are the beating heart of our business”.

He continued: “I believe that will remain the case, but the world is changing fast, particularly where new technology is involved, and it’s our job to lead the way in looking at ways to continually progress and improve our operations for the good of the many people who use our bus services every day.”

www.passengertransport.co.uk

PT212p40-41.indd Prototype vehicle can now move depot autonomously, carrying around Stagecoach Manchester out a number of simulated movements

AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES

The UK’s first full-sized autonomous bus is now being trialled in a Manchester bus depot.

The ground-breaking project, involving a single Alexander Dennis (ADL) Enviro200 vehicle, is part of a programme being delivered by transport operator Stagecoach in partnership with ADL and technology company Fusion Processing.

The bus is now able to operate autonomously within Stagecoach Manchester’s Sharston depot using Fusion Processing’s CAVstar autonomous vehicle system.

This system was previously successfully used in the Greenwich 14 | 22 March 2019 PT205_p14-15.indd

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autonomous vehicle trials last year as well as a number of other similar projects. The trials have reached the point where the bus can now move around depot environment autonomously,

No hands: the prototype bus can now move autonomously around the depot environment

carrying out simulated movements such as parking and moving into the bus wash.

The CAVstar system uses multiple sensor types including radar, LIDAR, optical cameras and ultrasound, along with satellite navigation to detect and avoid objects and plan an optimum path for the vehicle.

This hardware and software also forms the basis for a more significant autonomous vehicle trial due to get underway in 2020. That will see five buses operating in autonomous mode in public service between Fife and Edinburgh, across the Forth Road Bridge Corridor as part of the

27/06/2019 08:34

NEWS, VIEWS AND ANALYSIS

Battle for the bond with customers

NEWS, VIEWS AND ANALYSI S FOR A SECTOR ON

THE MOVE

A glimpse of the future

Passenger transport operators simple for their customers are being urged to make travel before disrupters do it for them - and take control of the relationship with customers

INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY

‘Why can’t buses be as easy as ordering pizz a?’

problem. We just don’t shout about the good things. Maybe it has been because we have been battered down too many times.”

Transport Focus’s research found that the most commonly cited way for young people to find information about journeys was asking friends and family (51%), INFORMATION does that feel right in today’s followed by Google Maps Young people want the bus day George Mair, director, Scotland (46%). and age?” for A smaller percentage user experience to be as (37%) use the Confederation of Passenger easy as Coward added: “[Young local transport operator ordering pizza or booking people] Transport, expressed apps or cinema are so used to frustration websites. using technology tickets on their phones. that the industry-funded and to have things designed David Sidebottom, passenger Focus group research conducted in Traveline Scotland app does ways that feel intuitive to not director at Transport Focus, in England by Transport them. receive greater recognition. said Focus When that is their benchmark, that young people wanted identified barriers to using “What fails need a wee bit a buses, some of these challenges is one-stop-shop for information. and these included poor that the apparent lack of ability access to come through you almost to use Recalling information about services. the feedback from can’t NEWS the technology that is there,” argue with them. focus groups, he said: “Why Speaking at an event in Glasgow he said. “Traveline Scotland do “[In comparison to] all of is we need a bus operator app, last week, Louise Coward, these an app, it is multi-modal, a the other industries and sectors it gives train operator app, a Transport passenger watchdog’s acting that fares - everything is in there. they are used to dealing with Authority app? As a young head of insight, explained: and Why for the life of me the person interacting with, the bus young with a certain tariff on my “A fear of getting it wrong industry kids can fathom out to get mobile and and public transport more the device, having Buses heart’ of looking silly was enormous three or‘at four app to order the pizza but among generally feels they government’s agenda apps all churning really outdated and can’t young people. It came out away in the do the same thing for a bus, really antiquated to them. background is eating my strongly in the groups.”

I don’t understand that ... data.

Representing the bus industry, I find “They want one source of The research revealed that that really interesting.” truth, one source of information young people want an experience Mair maintained that Traveline PT216p01.indd 1 and for young that is as easy to navigate people it is Scotland isn’t perfect but as the it is the Google Maps.” one provided by other retailers. best information service of its The Transport (Scotland) “Young people challenged kind in the UK. us Bill will improve information with things like, ‘if I want “We don’t shout enough to order about provision, according to Pete a pizza or I want to go and these things,” he said. “Even see within Grant, interim a film, all I need to do is head of bus and Transport Scotland, the people get my concessionary fares policy phone out go into an app’,” that I work with there, some at she of Transport Scotland. He believes said. “I can have a gluten-free the people don’t understand Louise Coward it. that the most exciting aspect base, I can have half vegan “We have a communicatio n of the bill are its open data topping, I can have half meat requirements, which will feast, I can choose my size, compel bus service operators to HOW THEY COMPAR I can apply my discount provide code ...

E information on timetables I can pay, I can then monitor and the fares in a specified format.

DOMINO’S progress of my pizza, it’s going in TRAVELINE PIZZA Sharon Morrison, commercial the oven, now it’s on a bike, SCOTLAND all I manager at West Coast Motors, 4.7 have to do is open the door 2.5 and acknowledged the need 843k ratings take it from a delivery driver. for the 31 ratings Sample review: “Five star bus industry to do more.

“Why can Domino’s or whoever app, Sample review: “This app is a makes it so easy to order “I was a bit disappointed it is do all of that and yet pizza necessity for public transport I can it’s dangerous. Also really hearing the findings regarding only find out how much pleased in Scotland but the interface it costs to with the addition of the track is young people,” she said. get the bus if I was going your antiquated ... I’d expect more to pick driver feature in pizza tracker. from “I think one of the key things up my pizza myself by getting ” such a fundamental application.” is on information board and asking how much provision ... We need is it Source: Apple App Store to raise the bar in terms to the pizza place bus driver? of trying Icat dolute How to get information out to storem volup younger people by working collectively.”

16 | 3 May 2019

Transport Focus research about buses reveals their frustration young people and their experience of using at ‘outdated and antiquated ’ experience

“The world is changing fast, particularly where new technology is involved”

“Berlin has an extensive, frequent and high quality public transport system”

ISSUE 216 6 SEPTEMBER 2019

ISSUE 211 14 JUNE 2019

A working model of new mobility

Stagecoach chief executive Griffiths, Fusion Processing Martin Hutchinson and Alexander CEO Jim Dennis chief executive Colin Robertson with the prototype bus

MAKING TRAVEL SIMPLE ISSUE

Scania’s futuristic NXT concept was on show at the Global Public Transp in Stockholm this week, ort Summit where public transport was hailed as ‘the art of the future’ More than 15,000 public transport professionals from around the world were offered a glimpse of the future in Stockholm this month.

Exhibiting on its home turf, Sweden’s Scania sought to inspire visitors to UITP’s Global Public Transport Summit with its NXT concept vehicle - a battery electric NEWS

First Bus sale as group faces showdown

03

Board faces meeting with shareholders

self-driving bus that would not While this was an imaginitiv look out of place in the Tron e idea for the future, the three-day movies. The vehicle has a modular conference and exhibition were design that enables the body bursting with innovation can be lifted off the chassis s that and can be applied to public replaced - giving it the flexibility transport today - or in the near future. to ferry commuters to and from Speaking at opening ceremony, work in mornings and evenings, Kristoffer Tamsons, regional deliver goods during the day and minister for transport in collect waste at night.

Stockholm, said that public TRAVEL TEST

Uncertainty weighs heavily on our people

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Alex Warner says staff need stability

COMMENT

How can we support towns like Batley?

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Jonathan Bray on transport and towns

transport had become “much of the driving force for growth a prosperity in our society”.

Addressing the summit’s theme - The art of public transport Tamsons said: “For me personally , public transport is the art of the future and I think all of us here today are the artists of the future.”

FULL STORY: PAGES

16-17

COMMENT

New housing must consider transport

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Scotland to spend £500m on bus priority

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FOR A SECTOR ON THE

MAKING TRAVEL SIMPLE: PAGES 20-30 TRAVEL TEST

Bus travel is grounded at Heathrow

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Alex Warner travels on London’s periphery

COMMENT

‘HS2 will be scaled down, not scrapped’

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Norman Baker on the review of HS2

COMMENT

Is Sweden’s rail market a model for us?

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Giles Bailey studies a deregulated model

“If I want to order a pizza or go and see a film all I need to do is get my phone out go into an app”

04/09/2019 17:26

www.passengertransport.co.uk

PT208p16-17.indd 16

01/05/2019 17:32

Claire Haigh urges joined-up approach

PT211p01.indd 1

www.passengertransport.co.uk

20/03/2019 18:14

13/06/2019 17:50

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MOVE

This edition of Passenger Transport examines the efforts towards ‘making travel simple’ Passenger transport operators are warned that if they fail to create a hassle-free experience they will open up a space for innovators to come in - and risk losing control of their customer relationships.

Thomas Abelman, CEO of start-up Snap Travel Technology, warns that the process of getting a local bus outside London can be frustrating: “Timetables are inaccessable, payment channels often bespoke and archaic and real-time information sporadic.”

He sees a window of opportunity to address these issues before someone else does.

Martin Bould, chief commercial officer at FirstGroup, tells Passenger Transport that his biggest concern is losing control of the customer relationship “to a Citymapper or a Trainline and we just become the metal box and the four wheels”. He adds: “There is no question that technology and innovative disrupters are forcing us to rethink our retail, purchase and help model.”

This edition also features an analysis of 85 transport apps designed to make travel simple.