Passenger has launched real-time bus fare information onto its white-label mobile app, which is used by over 35 operators to provide journey information and sell tickets.
The capability has debuted with launch customers Brighton and Hove Buses, Metrobus, Nottingham City Transport, Reading Buses, Thames Valley Buses, and Warrington’s Own Buses. It allows users to find out the fare before using those operators’ services.
Indicated to customers are tickets for their journey that can be purchased on the bus, and as mobile tickets directly from their device. Passenger notes that the latter are already a popular option for many users.
It adds that the project is the first to use the NeTEx fares dataset, which is made publicly available as part of the Bus Open Data Service (BODS). Passenger has long supported open data standards in its software development, and it chose NeTEx as the baseline for the fare capability after it was adopted by the Department for Transport (DfT) for BODS in England.
Introduction of fares information is a culmination of several recent software updates by Passenger. Others include tools for operators to preview fares data before publishing. Those also support compliance with BODS. “Before this project, it took significant effort and cost for operators to see errors in their NeTEx datasets easily,” the supplier says.
The latest update is free to operators with an existing Passenger app licence. More are expected to adopt the fares capability over coming months.
Speaking about the development, Passenger CEO Tom Quay says: “The introduction of bus fare information to the Passenger app, and simultaneously to operator websites, it a huge milestone.
“When DfT announced it was adopting the NeTEx standard for BODS, it was widely unknown in the UK. We have seen first-hand how much time and effort operators have invested in getting to this stage with BODS, so we are delighted to be delivering a return on that – and one that has the potential to be game-changing for customers.”
The app update is based on currently available data. As BODS evolves, more complex ticket-based products, such as time-based capped fares that are calculated after travel has taken place, may be added. Passenger will hold a webinar on 22 February to share more details about the project.
