UrbanThings and Ipswich Buses: Providing a Passenger App with a Back Office Reporting System
The Story
Ipswich Buses has been helping get people around since 1903, and is owned by Ipswich Borough Council.
Operating 80 vehicles on a network of routes across the Borough of Ipswich, East Babergh, Colchester and the surrounding areas, Ipswich Buses are committed to giving passengers a quality bus service with a strong focus on customer service and innovation, and striving to reduce car dependency.
The Challenges
Ipswich Buses needed their own dedicated passenger app to facilitate journey planning and m-ticketing. They wanted a cost effective solution that would be easy to administer and update over a large fleet. They also encountered challenges regarding contactless and debit cards and needed a solution that would support major types of payments. Finally, they needed a solution that would integrate with their current ticketing hardware.
The Solution
UrbanThings worked with Ipswich Buses to provide a passenger app and cloud-based back office for use on their services. The app launched in November 2019 across the entire fleet.
The white-labelled app provides real-time travel information and m-ticketing via QR code validation. Passengers have a quick and simple method to purchase tickets on their smartphones, including period passes, which they can scan upon boarding to validate.
Through the cloud-based back office and mobility platform, Ipswich Buses can access invaluable data such as live passenger metrics, and detailed reporting to identify under and over-served routes.
UrbanThings continues to modernise the app with regular updates to bring new features and support new smartphones and operating system upgrades.