Ticketless to ride as Nottingham goes contactless

1st October 2020

INIT

Joe Bush

0 0

Nottingham has become the latest location to roll-out contactless bus tickets, with the city’s main transport operator opting for INIT’s validators throughout its fleet.

Nottingham City Transport (NCT) has installed INIT’s PROXmobil3 units throughout their fleet of buses, meaning that passengers across the network can travel without the need to carry cash.

The new payment system will also automatically calculate the best fare for the user - taking into account all the journeys made during a day and charging a single payment of a daily capped rate.

The system has been trialled over the last month, gaining a 96% satisfaction score from more than 600 testers.

The success follows on from impressive results for INIT in the West Midlands, with three million contactless payments made in the first year of its implementation on National Express West Midlands’ buses.

Jens Mullak, managing director of INIT, said: “Cashless payments have been increasingly popular in recent years, and the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this shift away from traditional ticketing.

“With advice continuing to be that people should pay by card wherever possible, the introduction of contactless payments for Nottingham couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. The new system will mean safer, quicker boarding and an improved fare structure for users of the service, and also help the operator make savings by reducing the need to handle cash.”

INIT already delivers a range of products for Nottingham’s bus and tram passengers, such as the ITSO-based Robin Hood scheme and solutions such as Automatic Vehicle Location, Intermodal Transport Control System, and Real Time Passenger Information which helps passengers see on the app and on the bus stop screens, exactly when their bus is due.

Nicola Tidy, Marketing and Communications Director at NCT, said: “The launch of adult pay-as-you-go contactless payments on NCT buses offers our customers another cashless, convenient way to pay for their bus journeys.

“By simply tapping their contactless card or device on the bus each time they board, the contactless system does the hard work by adding up their journeys and charging customers based on their journeys during the day.”