Go-Ahead introduces new tap-free bus ticketing system

The Go-Ahead Group, alongside a team of technology experts, has created a pioneering system that offers customer a new form of tap-free contactless ticketing.

Passengers use the app to initiate their journey as the bus arrives and show their activated pass to the driver. The state-of-the-art system allows passengers to simply link a bank account with the HOPSTA app where they are automatically charged the lowest fare for their journey on departure of the bus, thanks to terminals called iBeacons which connect to mobile signals on a phone.

This means the customer does not have to worry about having the correct change or even their wallet with them. The fare is calculated based on the location where the app was last able to see the on-board bus beacon.

The ground-breaking mobile-only system has already won acclaim from the experts, taking home the Transport prize at the 2018 Smart Cities UK awards. Following a successful trial on the University of Southampton’s Unilink buses, operated by Go South Coast, the new system is set to be piloted in the North East.

Go-Ahead Group CIO, Enrique Fernandez-Pino, said: “We are thrilled with this radical new technology and allows passengers to track and pay for their journeys in the easiest possible way. Cutting a new path with technology is something we’re proud to do at Go-Ahead and we hope to use this technology on more and more routes in the future.”

It marks the latest technological innovation from Go-Ahead, which in 2017 introduced a pioneering offer for customers to stream movies on its London Midland trains directly through a web browser.