Category Archives: Online Ticketing

Online Ticketing Software as a Service: Here’s some of our articles about web-based ticketing, bookings and reservations. Learn how to sell shuttle, ferry, train and bus tickets online

Sell Shuttle Bus Tickets Online: Bus Reservation System

AddTransit makes it easy to sell shuttle bus tickets online.

Sell shuttle bus tickets online

All you need to do is signup, and then enter your schedule, route, fares and payment information.

We’ll then give you a small snippet of code to add to your website.  Once you’ve added the code and it is live, you are done!

Passengers can purchase tickets via your website, or via our apps.  Alternatively, we can provide you with an app that has your own branding.

Our online ticketing  system allows you to monitor past sales and future reservations 24×7.

And as passengers board you can verify they hold a valid ticket.

Join now and sell shuttle bus tickets online today!

AddTransit’s Online Ticket Reservation System

AddTransit’s online ticket reservation system is focussed on the  public transport, transit and travel based tourism industries.  The web based ticket reservation software provides a 24 x 7 customer sales channel allowing you to serve your passengers whenever and wherever it best suits them.

Online Ticket Reservation System

So how does it work? Let’s use the example of a bus company, but it could easily be a ferry, plane, train or travel tourism/sightseeing provider.

Online ticket reservation system set up

Firstly, the bus company adds their routes and schedule.  Then the company adds their fares.  Finally the company adds any restrictions such as vehicle capacity and preferred number of tickets for online versus offline sales.

Then the company chooses how they’d like to receive fare payments and their preferred frequency of payment.  Of course, terms & conditions, customer service contact details, and exceptions/alterations handling can be entered too!

AddTransit automatically generates a small snippet of code to include in the companies website and the company is ready to start making sales.  Tickets can be sold from the bus company’s website, through the AddTransit apps or you can even upgrade to a branded ticketing app.

Book Reservations and buy Tickets online

Customers can then make reservations and purchase tickets online.  A ticket is emailed to the purchaser with the option to print the ticket, if the customer so chooses.  The ticket includes a bar code to make it easily scannable by the AddTransit ticket management app.

The cost of the AddTransit service is borne by the customer through an additional service fee at time of purchase.

Reporting is available on the website.  Passenger manifests are also available within the AddTransit ticket management app.  Customers can also manage their tickets and update selected details online.

If you’d like to know more our online ticket reservation system, please contact us today.

Rail ticket booking software

Paper railway tickets sold by a conductor have now almost universally been replaced by rail ticket booking software.  The methods for sale, verification of correct purchase before and during travel and when alighting, whilst monitoring passenger numbers and sales costs  have greatly changed.

Nowadays passengers expect to be able to purchase their tickets any hour of the day, irrespective of whether they are near the train line or not.  They expect convenience.  Yet rail companies personnel  budgets are tight.  So many rail companies have adopted a high upfront cost approach by installing expensive hardware at multiple locations to sell tickets.  Unfortunately these machines also have an ongoing cost resulting from maintenance, repair, connectivity, servicing and replacement.  Sooner or later the railway looks to find a way to reduce this cost too.

Other options including selling your tickets through stores and other shops that passengers may frequently visit. However, your company is not their key focus so your brand is lost amongst their many other products.

Many larger railways have adopted electronic cards, similar to a bank card ranging from just an electronic strip where the balance is stored on a head office computer system, or with more advance electronics where the balance is stored on the card itself and then is updated to the head office computer system every now and then.  These cards have great benefits in that you can now track where the passenger boards and alights, thus giving you detailed statistics on passenger numbers.  However, they also have huge costs as trains or stations or both need to be fitted with the necessary hardware to sell, verify and process passengers.

And then there is the challenge with vending machine sales and electronic cards of end of life.  Typically the installation of all the related hardware occurred at one point in time.  It involved a massive upfront cost, significant deployment of contractors or personnel to install the machines, and costly multi-year contracts with vendors.  Then 5, 10, 15 years later they all must be reviewed again.  And the vendors now have a almost monopoly position able to lift their prices, because only they know how to fix your system.

Well, there is now a new solution to this.  The humble smartphone, mobile phone, cell phone (call it what you will) and the internet allows you a new way forward.  Your customers now carry mobile phones and using AddTransit rail ticket booking software for your sales and reservations you will be able to implement a new network wide ticketing solution almost immediately.  Mobile apps allow the purchase of tickets and the verification of tickets.  Customers have the flexibility of 24×7 purchase and reservations no matter where they are.  And you have the location based reporting so that you can improve your routes and timetables whilst monitoring your costs.

Find out more about our Railway Ticket Booking Software today.

Ticket booking software (Bus, Train, Ferry, Tours)

Online Ticket Reservations (Bus, Ferry, Train, Tours)

Online ticket booking software for bus, train, ferries and tours is now available at AddTransit.  Easily add your schedule, key stops and fares, add a link to your website and you are up and running!

In the past, you had to hire web specialists to create custom ticketing systems for you, but now with AddTransit you can be set up and running quickly.  You can focus on the things  that matter, while tickets are sold online.  Of course, there are administration functions that allow you to monitor bookings, capacity and make changes to bookings if passengers need assistance.

The benefits of online ticket booking software means that reservations for your bus, train or ferry service or bookings for your tours, can be managed by the customers themselves.  This allows them 24×7 flexibility in booking 365 days of the year,  removes the need to queue at your ticket counters, and allows your staff to focus on providing greater value.

We encourage you to try AddTransit for yourself.

Have a great day.

Tour Reservation Software – Bookings and Tickets

If your tour involves travelling with multiple pick-ups and drop-offs, then you should have a look at AddTransit’s online tour reservation software.

AddTransit - Tour Reservation Software

We know that when running a tourism operation that has multiple pick-ups from different locations, that it is important to obtain this pick-up information at the time of booking.  If you don’t have a online tour reservation software or system that captures this information automatically, then you’ll to collect and compile this list manually later.. and you’ve got better things to do.

AddTransit gives you the ability to create an on-boarding manifest, understand capacity, forecast potential delays, and at the end of the tour know who needs to depart at each location.

You don’t want passengers missing their pick-up or at the end of a great tour, finding that sleeping passenger has missed their stop!

Have a good day.

 

Bus Ticketing Software – 7 Keys to Success

Here are 7 key things that your Online Bus Ticketing Software should have for you to be successful.

1. Journey planner

You software should allow your passengers to review a number of different journey options to allow them to determine the best route and time to accomplish their journey.

2. Online Ticket Payments

The system should allow passengers to make payment immediately whilst they are online booking the tickets.  Online ticket payments provides passengers the convenience and comfort of knowing their journey is secured, whilst at the same time reduces the likelihood of them looking at at alternative travel options.  Online payments is likely to increase your revenue whilst at the same time reduces the cash/payment handling at the front line.

3. Email Confirmation of Ticket Bookings and Reservations

The passengers should receive an email confirmation so that they fully understand what travel they have booked.  An email also allows them to refer back to their booking at a later date and will reduce the number of customer queries.

4. Passenger Manifest

A passenger manifest must be able to be produced for the driver or if available, the bus conductor or host.  This makes it quicker and easier for them to verify the correct passengers are boarding and departing the bus at each stop.

5. Customer Service Functionality

Passengers will consider online booking as just one more channel for them to communicate and transact with your business.  This means that customer service staff who answer telephones, work at ticket desks, etc. need to be able to review booking and travel information and make any necessary changes that are allowable within your bookings and reservation policy.

6. Reports (e.g. Forward Capacity, Historical Capacity Reports)

Your bus ticketing software should provide a number reports that allow you to plan both short and long term.  Such reports include capacity reports, that allow you to see how much spare capacity a vehicle has today or in the retrospective sense, how much capacity a vehicle had for a similar trip in the past.  This allows you to determine if additional capacity needs to be made available.

7. Payments

Of course online bus ticketing software is only a success if you get paid quickly.  You need to be able to ensure that the passengers fares gets to you quickly while at the same time maintaining a small float for any refunds that may need to be issued.

Well that’s the 7 keys to success.  There’s plenty of other things to consider, but having these 7 fulfilled will put you in a good position.

Have a great day!

Steam Train Ticket Software – 5 Key Things to Think About

When considering steam train ticket software for your heritage railway, there are many things to think about.  Here’s five that we think are key:

1) Does it do what you need it to?

You need to ensure that the software meets the needs of your business. You’ll need to check that the software handles your fare structure (i.e. Adult, Child, Family, Seniors, Special Trips, Discount Offers, etc.)  Do you need to have passenger manifests or historical reports?  Do you want to be aware when passengers with special needs might need support? Can passengers sit anywhere or travel on any trip during the day, or is there restrictions and does the software support this? You’ll need to identify what you have now, determine what you want in the future, and be aware that some things may need to change.

2) Who will be using it and what training is required?

Many heritage and steam railways are run primarily by volunteers.  This means that any new systems/software must be simple and require minimal training.  Determining who will need to be trained and their level of training, is directly related to the who will be using it and why.  Some users will provide customer service in the form of front desk or telephone operators, others may be managing boarding and seating, whereas others will be more concerned about the accounting or future projection of demand.  Be sure you know who will use the software, the type of training they require and understand that volunteers will have restricted and often, differing availabilities for training.

3) Where will the software be installed?

In the old days, software was created “bespoke” or individually built for each customer.  The software was then installed on personal computers, tills/cash registers and run either standalone or over a network.  This had significant upfront cost and with limited budgets meant that upgrades were often deferred indefinitely.   Today software is typically available via the internet with data stored in “the cloud”.  Access to the software is via WIFI or 3G/4G services meaning that you are no longer limited to specific locations.  This allows additional “ticket offices” up and down the line that only require a wireless connection and iPad, tablet or PC to operate.  It also allows passengers to purchase their tickets online and reservations to be checked while the train is moving.  The software is automatically upgraded for all users, meaning you always have the latest version.

4) Cost

Cost has been left until now (number #4), because although budgets are always limited, the first three reasons will determine the total cost.  The total cost must include the upfront, ongoing and organisational costs when choosing steam train ticket software.  The software costs can be structured a number of ways including the number of users, a periodic fee (e.g. monthly or annual) or a one-off cost with maintenance upgrades.  However, it is often the hidden costs of 1) the functionality that is available, 2) the users and time/effort and training, and 3) the way that the software is deployed, that will end up having a much greater impact on the day to day running of your railway.

5) Other factors

Of course, there are a variety of other factors that will affect how you choose which steam train ticket software is right for you.  They include the level of vendor software support and how passionate they are about steam/heritage vehicles, the current software you have and if it is truly “upgradeable” when the hidden costs are calculated,  and then more emotional factors such as “I like the way the screen does this”.  Be careful when considering other factors, as although they may seem important, the real consideration should always be passenger and team experience and the best return on your investment.

That’s all for today.  Have a great weekend.