Blackpool Transport continues Ticketer roll out

Blackpool Transport has rolled out the new Ticketer Handheld devices across its light tram fleet. It follows a successful deployment of Ticketer Electronic Ticket Machines (ETMs) on its buses.

The Ticketer teams have worked in close collaboration with Blackpool Transport to deploy a product that is suitable for its specific use case and operational needs.

The new Ticketer Handhelds have full ticketing capabilities and can take ITSO cards, contactless EMV bank cards, cash and scan QR Codes. It benefits from a compact, light-weight form.

With the new contactless payments solution in place Blackpool Transport has seen a drastic shift, with over 50% of its customers choosing to pay with their bank cards in the first two weeks of launch. This is a trend they anticipate will grow across 2022, accounting for around 70% of all onboard fares by the end of the year. The contactless capabilities also make transaction times much faster, leading to increased revenue collection at peak times.

Battery life has been another essential feature for the operator, and one full charge of the new Ticketer handheld provides enough capacity to cover an entire shift. Conductor duties can now be completed without any changeovers or disruption in serving customers. Blackpool Transport has seen an overall conductor productivity increase of 30% since the launch of the new ticketing machines.

Data collection is a further key benefit Blackpool Transport have experienced since the roll out. They are now able to determine the age group of their customers, calculate the profitability of multi-use tickets, as well as the number of times a ticket is used.

International travellers are also no longer restricted to only use the public transport network if they carry local currency, but can freely use a local service and pay for their ticket using a contactless bank card.

Jane Cole, Managing Director at Blackpool Transport, said: “Being able to offer contactless payments to our millions of tramway customers is a huge step forward in allowing us to remain innovative and provide the solutions that our customers want. Customers enjoy the increased boarding speed and ease of purchase, and the new machines bring a lot of benefits for our conductors, as well as improving our access to data and insights.”

Antonio Carmona, General Manager UK and International at Ticketer Group, said: “Following the successful rollout of Ticketer ETMs across Blackpool buses, we are delighted to see how with the Ticketer handhelds are opening new payment options for tram passengers, and revenue collection is simpler and easier for Blackpool Transport.”