The Benefits of Mobile Ticketing in the Transportation Sector

Mobile ticketing is the future of the transportation sector. In general, the ticketing industry has experienced vast change in recent years, and has potential to grow substantially alongside the innovation of technology and mobile ticketing. Smart phones and new technology are making this huge transition possible.

Mobile ticketing offers so many opportunities to transportation companies as well as consumers. Mobile ticketing is convenient, reduces boarding time, is cost-effective, offers flexibility to transportation companies, and creates opportunity for transportation companies to offer additional features and benefits to consumers to better their travel experience.

Convenience

If you’ve ever looked around while using public transportation, odds are you’d find most people with their head buried in their smartphones. While not everyone owns a smartphone, the majority of people that do will benefit massively from the convenience of being able to purchase tickets on the device that they’re already on. In fact, according to Pew Research Center, 96% of Americans own a cell phone of some kind, and 81% of Americans own a smartphone, and those numbers are only rising. The convenience of mobile ticketing on those widespread devices is unbeatable.

Reduced wait time

With mobile ticketing, customers simply have to take out their smart phone to purchase their ticket online or through an app. It eliminates many factors that slow down ticketing, such as long lines, paying by cash, etc. By reducing this boarding time (and the subsequent headaches that are caused), customer satisfaction will increase majorly, which could in turn increase the use of public transportation and profits to those companies involved.

Another benefit of mobile ticketing is that it reduces costs in a multitude of ways. While the printing of tickets or cards is insignificant per unit, the cost adds up with the millions of sales a large transit company likely performs. Mobile ticketing allows the tickets to stay digital, which eliminates printing costs almost entirely, as well as other fare collection costs. On another note, ticketing machines have a high upfront cost, and need constant maintenance and repairs. And with those repairs, it can be difficult to gage the need for maintenance until immediate service is required, which inconveniences both your business and customers. On the other hand, mobile ticketing simply requires upfront development or software installation costs, and then periodical updates to digital software and code, which can easily be done at convenient and planned times so as not to upset or disturb customers and business in general.

Flexibility

Moreover, the reduced costs of implementing and utilizing a mobile ticketing system allows transportation companies to be flexible in the future when adapting or changing their systems to stay up-to-date with technology and consumer needs. These factors are ever changing, so remaining flexible with technology is vital for business, especially regarding the fast-changing ticketing industry.

Additional features (and benefits!)

Once a company takes their ticketing digital, there are so many other features and benefits that they can offer to consumers. Travelers can utilize the app to plan their route, view schedules, track buses, etc. These additional features further boost customer satisfaction and make traveling easier, as well as allow consumers to feel better informed and more in control of their travel experience.

Ultimately, if transportation companies aren’t taking advantage of mobile ticketing, they are missing a huge opportunity. The benefits of mobile ticketing speak for themselves.

Contact myCloudFare today to about how mobile ticketing can improve your organization today!