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Transcending the world of mobility with seamless customer journeys

For Intelligent Transport, Boy Hendriks, Transdev Netherlands’ Manager – Innovative & Business Development, provides exclusive insight into the trial of the company’s new Be-In-Be-Out contactless ticketing service, and explains why it is important to embrace innovation in order to enhance the customer experience and deliver convenient, easy-to-use public transport services.

Transdev Netherlands launches contactless ticketing system in Eindhoven

Credit: Transdev

Walking in and out of a bus, without having to buy a separate ticket or check-in and out at a validator, has become a reality for passengers of Transdev Netherlands’ subsidiary Hermes, in our network in the greater Eindhoven area. During this innovation trajectory, we are testing the service of Be-In-Be-Out (BIBO) together with our partner, mobyyou, and the public transit authority, the Province of Brabant. The new BIBO service allows passengers to safely and seamlessly check-in and check-out for their bus rides, all they need to do is: Just Move!

The new BIBO service allows passengers to safely and seamlessly check-in and check-out for their bus rides, all they need to do is: Just Move”

The Eindhoven bus fleet is well on its way to becoming future proof. In 2016, Hermes had already introduced 43 fully electric buses, a first in the country at the time. In the coming years, the fleet of over 200 buses will be made more sustainable and Transdev will invest in further innovations. From the latest payment methods to customised mobility, Hermes is pushing forward in the Eindhoven region, in line with the ambitions of the Province of Brabant.

With its Brainport region and High Tech Campus, the Eindhoven region is known in the Netherlands for its innovative ecosystem, where lots of new innovations have come to life, which is why it was an easy choice for Transdev Netherlands to test BIBO in this region.

How does it work?

Through the service of BIBO, we are focusing on creating more convenience and ease of use for people who choose public transportation”

While with other payment options require a physical action to validate, buy or verify passenger tickets, BIBO allows passengers to simply walk into the bus. All they need is an active smartphone and the mobyyou app; then, once they enter the bus, their presence will activate their ‘virtual ticket’. During their journey, the app makes a secured connection with sensors in our buses, which can be seen as a virtual elastic that breaks as soon as passengers step out of our vehicle and the bus drives off. Then, the connection is broken and the passengers are automatically checked out of the system.

Through the service of BIBO, we are focusing on creating more convenience and ease of use for people who choose public transportation, with clear advantages such as:

  • No longer needing a physical check, validation or action to use public transport: Just Move!
  • No need for a ticket upfront
  • No more forgetting to check-out with your ticket/smartcard/ bank card
  • No more worrying about whether you have enough balance on your smart card.
Transdev

Credit: Transdev Netherlands

Co-development with partner mobyyou

Transdev co-developed this service together with our partner mobyyou, a new Dutch service and payment platform. mobyyou knows the payment ecosystem and is able to facilitate our need for providing BIBO to our customers. More importantly, mobyyou shares our vision of a customer experience where mobility and ease of payment are part of everyday convenience. Their mission is to make everyday life easier, in a safer way.

When speaking about our partnership, mobyyou’s CEO, Jeroen Pietryga, said: “We are starting within the public transport sector, but overall mobyyou is taking away the cash register in every situation, off- and online. This way, you don’t have to stand in line anymore, for example, or have to make an online account for every service you use. In the case of a bus, you no longer have to tap your smartcard on a terminal. On top of this, we let the users be in control of their personal data and decide what they want to share to create a safe way of paying in your everyday life routine.”

At Transdev, innovation is at the heart of the organisation, and sharing new experiences in a broader perspective is key, as said by CEO Manu Lageirse: “Working together as mobility companies, stakeholders and partners to improve the customer experience is key for the future of mobility. I hope that our pilot in Eindhoven will lead to a national system for the entire sector and serve as an example for other countries.”

In the coming months, Transdev and mobyyou will optimise the BIBO service based on feedback from passengers and bus drivers. With this ongoing experience loop, we will keep learning and adjusting our services and, when successful, keep scaling up or keep adding new functionalities, such as a notification when a passenger’s stop is approaching or a stop button that can be operated via the app.

Transcending the world of mobility with seamless customer journeys

Credit: Transdev Netherlands

Seamless customer experience transcends mobility

Creating a standardised and a unified method for payment across these different providers will have huge impact on decreasing potential barriers for those making use of public transport and mobility services”

Public transport users are getting more and more mobility options to facilitate and organise their door-to-door trip. Although public transport remains a primary choice and part of this journey, more and more upcoming and new e-mobility solutions are becoming part of first- and last-mile solutions that fulfil passengers’ needs.

New Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) platforms try to connect these different mobility providers to help facilitate this need. But it remains a challenge to minimise the burden on passengers. Creating different accounts with different operators, connecting bank information and overseeing the privacy and security aspects to keep safe can be complex and challenging. Creating a standardised and a unified method for payment across these different providers will have huge impact on decreasing potential barriers for those making use of public transport and mobility services.

But this scope of improvement of the customer experience should not stop at public transport and/or mobility. Because mobility is not the end goal, but is part of a journey. The real value comes in when we are able to make integrations with services (e.g., coffee stands, pick-up points) and/or locations (e.g., theme parks, park & rides) that form the destinations of our passengers.

When we truly work together as public transport operators, daring to look across our own boarders for partners/ technologies and focus on our customers’ needs, the sky could be the limit”

Imagine integrated customer journeys in which users flow seamlessly from their mobility mode check-in, into a free passage entrance in a movie theatre, into seamlessly taking their drinks and popcorn into the theatre. All with one simple flow and action. With services and platforms like the one offered by mobyyou, we are able to create more integrated customer journeys, where public transport is part of a seamless journey that delivers high quality services that are easy to use. When we truly work together as public transport operators, daring to look across our own boarders for partners/ technologies and focus on our customers’ needs, the sky could be the limit.

Mobility allows our passengers to be part of society. Whether they’re going to the cinema, going to work or visiting family, we want to make their journey as easy and enjoyable as possible. With BIBO, we are one step closer to achieving that seamless customer experience.

Boy HendrickBoy Hendriks is the Manager of Innovation & Business Development for Transdev Netherlands, where he is responsible for the Business Development Funnel and implementation of new innovations. Boy has been active in different commercial and business development roles within the world of public transport and mobility sector for over 10 years, with a key focus on creating new services that take away possible boundaries for (potential) customers and/or make the customer experience within public transport more interesting and attractive.

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