One of the country’s long-established and most respected independents – Delaine Buses of Bourne, Lincolnshire – has become the 500th company to sign with Ticketer.
Delaine chose Ticketer because of its reputation in the industry, and the fact that the company was able to go-live with contactless ETMs within weeks instead of months.
Director, Mark Delaine-Smith, says: “We are delighted to be Ticketer’s 500th customer, but we very nearly missed this milestone as we should have made this move years ago.
“We had delayed the replacement of our previous ETMs in the belief that once contactless was achievable and cost effective for smaller operators, it was the way forward.
“We were under the misconception that switching to Ticketer and contactless would be complicated, but the team at Ticketer made the whole process very easy for us; their support staff were brilliant. In the end we only needed a small proportion of the training on offer as the system is so intuitive to use.”
Delaine saw a need to make the move to contactless after it became apparent that the number of passengers paying with high denomination bank notes was continually increasing, due to the declining use of cash.
Adds Mark Delaine-Smith: “People just don’t use cash like they used to and so they don’t have many opportunities to break into notes. As a consequence, carrying enough change on board was becoming an issue. Now that we have made the switch, services run much more smoothly because boarding is made quicker with a simple tap of the card. Ticketer has made contactless a practical option for smaller operators.”
Another benefit that Delaine Buses have found through using Ticketer ETMs is the tracking feature.
The company is able to supply its Twitter feed with up to date information about service delays and diversions.
This has significantly reduced the number of enquires during these periods to almost zero, as Mark Delaine-Smith observes: “We are able to inform people before they reach for their phones to call us. We recently experienced complete gridlock for over an hour in one of the towns we serve and yet not one passenger called in because we were able to give everyone live updates.
“Another benefit of this feature is being internet portal based means that smaller operators like us can deal with such situations out of hours, from our mobile phones at home, long after the office has closed.”
The smaller independent operator, like Delaine, is at the core of Ticketer’s business, as MDr John Clarfelt explains: “Ticketer has grown into the business that it is today by supporting smaller operators like Delaine.
“As the business has grown, we have continued to support all our customers equally, no matter how small or large their operations are. Everyone is treated in the same way, so that everyone can compete successfully in their local markets and offer passengers the same payment experience.”
