UK-based public transport group Arriva has selected Fujitsu to install the rail industry’s first smartphone-based ticket issuing system, the STARmobile solution.
Fujitsu and Arriva will implement the STARmobile solution over a contract period of seven years from March 2016.
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The new technology will allow Arriva employees on trains and at railway stations, to provide passengers with information about their journey and the option to purchase tickets.
The new service will be available across Arriva Trains Wales, CrossCountry, Chiltern Railways and Grand Central routes.
The STARmobile solution is expected to create improvements across three key areas for Arriva by improving overall customer experience, giving employees the right tools for the job and improve efficiencies to increase revenue.
Arriva CrossCountry business commercial director David Watkin said: "Over the last ten years we, like many other train operating companies, have relied on a bespoke, ticketing system.
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By GlobalData"However, with passenger numbers rising, the time is right to implement an innovative solution that will help transform the rail experience for our employees and our customers."
The contract includes the installation of the STARmobile application on 648 smartphones and will offer improved access to real time journey information, plan smart ticketing door-to-door journeys via rail and bus services as well as reduce overall operating costs for Arriva.
Watkin further noted: "By working with Fujitsu to create an easy-to-use ticketing system, we will be able to offer tickets to our passengers in the quickest, most cost-effective way possible, while also equipping our employees with the information they need to create a consistently high-level of customer service."
Fujitsu UK and Ireland client managing director and head of Transport Russell Goodenough said: "By extending our existing retail train ticketing solution, which is already used in many of the UK’s train operating companies, to a smartphone-based solution, we will play our part in helping to transform the experience for Arriva passengers now and in the future."
