Ticketer is proud to be partnering with Safeguard Coaches, by installing contactless ETMs across their fleet of 12 service vehicles covering bus routes in Guildford, Surrey.
“The installation for Safeguard, completed within a tight timescale, is evidence that it is vital for bus operators of all sizes to provide contactless payment technology in order to remain competitive and Ticketer’s approach makes it easy for any operator to do so,” said John Clarfelt, Ticketer’s Managing Director.
With a host of competition on bus routes in the area, it was important for Safeguard to offer contactless payments to passengers, as Managing Director Andrew Halliday explained: “We did not want to be left behind and contactless payment options are increasingly expected by passengers, so we set Ticketer a very demanding deadline to move us over to contactless to ensure that we weren’t at a commercial disadvantage.”
The new Ticketer ETMs have been fitted to all the vehicles in the Safeguard bus fleet and these are exactly the same ones Ticketer has been fitting for bus operator fleets up and down the country.
Safeguard’s drivers found the new ETMs very easy to adapt to, following their initial training. The Ticketer portal, that provides back office information, was also found to be easy to use. Staff have already started using the driver messaging function to advise of road closures or congestion, improving customer service and negating the need for expensive radios.
“I am able to track the vehicles on my phone. So not only is it useful to me and my operations staff, but it also enables us to provide great customer service by being to be able to tell waiting passengers, in person, that their bus is literally around the corner and to give them an accurate arrival time,” added Andrew.
Safeguard Coaches chose Ticketer because of the company’s reputation in the industry. “I knew about Ticketer as I had heard good things through fellow ALBUM members. Other operators in our area use Ticketer, so we also felt that it would be useful if there was ever a need for a centralised ticketing offer. We also know that our Local
Authority is able to support RTPI through Ticketer, so there were many good commercial reasons for choosing Ticketer as our ETM supplier and I am pleased to say that our experience has proved this,” explained Andrew.
