First TransPennine Express customers travelling to and from Manchester Airport can now use their mobile handset as a ticket. The feature, which has just been made available on the company’s TPExpress app, gives travellers the opportunity to plan and purchase tickets directly from their smartphone if journeying on direct rail routes to and from the North West airport.
The m-ticketing facility, which could be eventually be rolled out to all First TransPennine Express routes, is another sign that companies are beginning to recognise the growing use of mobile in customer behaviour.
2011 saw a number of travel companies expand their contact channels to include the mobile medium. Train operators ScotRail, CrossCountry and Raileasy all launched iPhone and Android applications designed to offer consumers a dedicated mobile channel.
Indeed, the growing rise in smartphone usage across the United Kingdom and the rising expectations of customers – that companies should offer a presence on the medium – has seen a number of organisations adapt their contact channels to incorporate mobile ticketing.
A 2011 report from Juniper also predicts a rising demand for m-ticket purchases. Released in May, the research house foresaw 1 in 8 users would be using mobile tickets by 2015. The survey predicted that 750 million users would be using their mobile to purchase tickets. Currently, approximately 1 in 20 use their smartphone to purchase and validate tickets.
Speaking at the time, Howard Wilcox, author of the Juniper Report, said:
“Mobile technology is moving the ticket machine into our pockets. Our research demonstrated that mobile ticketing will change the way that many people buy and obtain their regular, everyday tickets that are mostly printed at the moment.”
To discover how numero could help your company embrace this new customer contact channel, visit this mobile page on our website.
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