www.pwc.co.

uk/publicsector

Smart moves
Talking Points

Tapping into growth in

public transport

Contents
Foreword

Introduction

Why smart ticketing?

Who benefits from smart ticketing and how?

Why we travel the way we travel

Increasing ridership on public transport

Behavioural trends in ticketing

10

The use of smart ticketing across the country

11

Mobile ticketing makes an entrance

13

Influencing customers to use smart ticketing

14

Enhancing the public transport service offering

15

Further expanding the operating model

16

Conclusions

18

About the survey

19

About PwC

19

Contacts

19

Foreword
With a growing population
and economy, demand on the
UKs transport network is
continuing to rise. The challenge
for government is to ensure that
transport is an enabler for this
continued growth.
New infrastructure clearly needs to be
one component in responding to this
challenge. But getting more out of the
existing infrastructure has potential in
a shorter timeframe. In public transport,
that includes finding ways of getting more
people to choose the bus or train as their
mode of travel. But tighter subsidies along
with rising costs mean that operators
are increasingly being challenged to
incentivise customers in different ways to
make the most of the UKs networks and
increase ridership. For transport, usage
is now equal to, if not more important
than, provision.

Against this backdrop, PwCs 2014 annual

ticketing survey comes at a critical time
for the sector. There have been some
significant changes in the year since our
last review of customers public transport
preferences. Buses in London went cash
free and Transport for London introduced
contactless bank card payments. The
necessity to purchase and hold a paper
ticket is becoming less relevant. As a
consequence, travel by public transport
is becoming more convenient.

ticketing. There is growing evidence

of greater use of anything other than
conventional paper tickets, and improving
convenience and service perception,
thereby supporting increased usage. One
notable finding this year is that customers
future preferences are showing signs of
moving away from dedicated transport
cards to mobile devices or bank cards.
The appetite for a transport smart card
seems to have peaked, with other forms
of smart finding favour.

Coinciding with the introduction

of contactless cards into the public
transport arena, PwC commissioned its
third annual survey of public transport
ticketing in the UK. Results continue to
be encouraging for advocates of smart

While smart is moving in the right direction

there is still some way to go; government
and operators are going to need to do more
to encourage customers to switch to new
ways of ticketing and hence to realise the
significant benefits they offer.

Figure 1: The changing face of a ticket

The expectations of public transport

customers are changing as well. They
are receiving products and services
through new channels, convenience
through self-service is now the default,
transaction times are coming down, and
on-demand services are the new norms
of modern living.

Contactless
Mobile device
Smart

Paper ticket
1

Print at home

Smart card

Introduction
In September 2014, we asked Opinium
Research to conduct a new poll of over
2,000 members of the public across the
UK to understand if perceptions of current
and future public transport ticketing
options, as well as drivers and barriers to
their adoption, were continuing to
change. This poll asked the public the
same questions as our 2013 poll.
The evidence suggests a growing
customer demand for smart forms of
ticketing. This is important because it
shows that passengers are seeing the
value of smart over conventional ticketing
and there is a growing segment of users
ready to adopt new technologies.
For the first time, our research
demonstrates that a new wave of smart
ticketing has arrived. Over half (58%) of
those surveyed said they wanted to use
something other than a paper ticket. The
biggest increases from last years survey
are for those wanting to use a mobile
device (up from 3% to 6%) and those with
a preference for printing a ticket at home
(up from 5% to 10%).

However, despite technological advances,

the public transport sector has yet to fully
embrace the potential of these new
technologies and there is significant
difference between London and the rest of
the UK in adoption rates of smart card and
mobile device technology for ticketing.
There is clearly more that government
and transport operators can do to enable
smart technology and integrated
ticketing. Indeed, change is necessary if
public transport is to set out a more
compelling offer to entice more people
from their cars. Developing a sound and
compelling customer proposition is at the
heart of this change, and smart ticketing
in its various guises provides a key
component of such an offer. This Talking
Points picks up where we left off last year
and builds on the conversation we began
around how the transport sector might
maximise the opportunity being offered
by smart ticketing.

What do we mean by smart

ticketing?
Smart ticketing is an alternative to the
traditional paper or cardboard ticket.
It includes:
u
 se of contactless debit and credit
cards to access services,
s mart cards dedicated to travel
applications,
t he use of mobile devices enabled to
purchase and display a ticket, and to
gain access to public transport service.

Smart

Mobile device

Contactless

Smart card

Why smart ticketing?

Smart ticketing offers potential benefits for
customers and operators. It provides
convenience to customers, supports
improved efficiency for operators and
provides a data source that can be used to
improve both services and specific
customer offers. The greatest benefits can
be derived when it becomes ubiquitous,
which may still be some years away.
Customers are already benefiting from
reduced transaction and queue times as a
result of smart ticketing. This in turn is
allowing operators to run services more
efficiently shorter boarding times mean
reduced overall journey times. The data
captured from the transaction is providing
insight into individual travel patterns and
is giving operators the potential to tailor
their service for discrete groups of
customers, thus increasing ridership and
improving service utilisation.
With smart ticketing more pervasive,
passengers would no longer need to work
their way through complex fare structures
to make sure they are getting the best price
for a journey at a ticket booth or machine.
Smart ticketing can support a guarantee
that customers always receive the best
price over a given period of time.

Customers are benefiting from new service

offerings too one more journey offers
customers using Londons bus network the
chance to take one more trip when they
dont have the available balance left on
their card to pay for their journey. And the
automation of customer service processes
is enabling some passengers to claim
automated compensation through their
mobile device when their train is delayed.

Through use of a smart mobile device,

information, payment and access can all
be located in the same place, which
makes it an exciting time for designing
a product that guides customers down
a particular path incentivising them to
choose the right mode of transport that
makes their journey and the network run
more efficiently, through better
information provision, taking payment
and allowing access.

But the opportunities for getting more out

of our transport system as a whole remain.
Smart ticketing has the potential to offer
more varied pricing and reward models
that incentivise customers to travel in a
different way, increasing ridership or
easing capacity strains.

Figure 2: The personal mobile device enabling a seamless end-to-end customer journey

Information

Access

Payment

Who benefits from smart ticketing

and how?
Figure 3: Who benefits from smart ticketing?

Mobile device
operators

Network
operators

Customers

Transport
operators

Card service
providers

Customers

Government

Smart ticketing has the potential to make

it quicker and simpler to buy and use
tickets. On its own that is a major benefit,
but as our research highlights it is
not enough for a significant behavioural
change without other incentives. This
is important because it is only when a
significant proportion of passengers
have switched that the full benefits of
smart ticketing really kick in. So smart
ticketing will most likely need to be
linked to offering passengers material
benefit for example, guaranteeing
best prices for journeys or offering more
flexible season tickets. Other possibilities
include automatically paying out refunds
for qualifying delays.

Transport
operators

For public transport operators, the

immediate advantage in moving to
smart is in the potential to reduce costs
fewer ticket printing machines and
fewer mechanical breakdowns of ticket
readers, for example. Later, savings will
also come from completely eliminating
some of the older style ticket formats. Big
benefits also come from the insight that
smart ticketing can give operators into
their passengers travel patterns. Smart
ticketing facilitates the adoption of new
pricing mechanisms such as shoulder
pricing where there is a mid-price
between peak and off-peak travel periods
to better cope with demand.

Network
operators

For network operators there are benefits

too. Changes to smart ticketing radically
change the facilities required at stations
and at travel centres. As a consequence,
some of the space currently used for
ticketing could be freed up for increased
retail or other purposes.

Mobile phone
operators

Mobile network or device operators have

an opportunity with smart ticketing
to provide additional services to their
customers, thereby making the smart
phone or other device more intertwined
with their travel. This should lead to
increased sales of product or related
services. Part of the offer from a mobile
network or device operator could be
improved provision of travel information,
including real time, advice on journey
planning options, tailored offers, and
provision of targeted advertising.

Card service
providers

The introduction of contactless bank

cards into transport smart ticketing
brings bank card issuers more directly
into this market. They already provide the
payment means behind many conventional
ticket and smart card product purchases.
But the new model, being promoted by
TfL in particular, brings them closer to
the individual transaction. There is an
incentive for their involvement in smart
ticketing to increase their transaction fees.
More significantly, using a contactless bank
card as a form of smart ticket provides a
potential catalyst for increased take-up of
contactless card use in other sectors.

Government

Smart ticketing is not just about the

benefits for individual passengers
and the savings for operators. From a
government perspective, efficiencies
can translate into reduced subsidies or
grants for rail or bus operations. But the
bigger benefit is in the increase in use
of public transport, which reduces road
traffic congestion and by improving the
connectivity of people to place of work
boosts economic activity.

Why we travel the way we travel

Encouraging people to travel by
public transport remains high on the
governments transport agenda. For our
survey, we first wanted to understand what
modes of transport people are currently
using during a typical week and why.
From the 2014 results (Figure 4), the car
is still the dominant form of transport,
with 75% of survey respondents stating
they travel by car in a given week. By the
same measure, the bus was used by 36%
of respondents, followed by overground
and underground train at 17% and 13%

respectively. Compared with last year,

car and bus travel are each down by 2%,
balanced by an equivalent increase in
each form of train travel.

urban areas. Speed and reliability were

the next two biggest determinants. Price
was ranked fourth overall (it was second
last year).

Whats interesting is that age really plays a

part use of overground or underground
rail decreases and our use of the road
network increases as we get older.

Convenience, speed and reliability are

therefore particularly decisive factors
in determining whether someone is
prepared to leave the car at home and
consider public transport alternatives.

As in our 2013 survey, convenience

remains the main factor we take into
account when choosing to travel by a
specific mode of transport in rural and

Figure 4: What would you say are the main reasons that you use this method of transport over others?

80%

Convenience

70%
Speed

60%
Convenience

50%
Only
available/
practical
option

40%
30%

Convenience
Price

Convenience

Convenience

Speed
Convenience
Price

Concern for the

Environment

20%
10%
0%

Car
Price

Reliability

Bus
Speed

Overground Rail
Convenience

Safety

Underground
Concern for the environment

Tram
Only available/practical option

Bicycle
Other

Increasing ridership on public transport

Consumers are not a homogeneous group
they will each have their own reasons
for choosing to travel by a particular
mode. And indeed, that reason may
change from day to day, from week to
week, based on changes in the weather,
the journey purpose, their personal
circumstances a whole host of factors.
So there is no single thing a public
transport operator should focus on doing
to increase ridership. Rather, there are
many levers that can be pulled to affect
this choice.
While it has dropped in priority in this
years survey results, consumers do still
care about the price they pay for a service.
Again there are differences among the age
groups. For Generation Y (18-34 year olds),
price remains a key factor in the mode
decision (Figure 5). It is less so for older
age groups, for example just 19% of 35-54
year olds using a car cite price as a reason
for choosing a mode, and this figure drops
further to 9% for those over 54.
Reassuringly for operators given the
high volume, low-value transaction nature
of bus travel in particular our survey
results on the reason to travel point to
a spread of priorities rather than just
price. While bus and train services being

cheaper was cited as one of the reasons

for encouraging people to travel by them
there are still a lot of other incentives that
could be used that are not price-related.
We asked in our survey what would
encourage people to travel by either bus
or train (Figure 6). One quarter said they
would remain unpersuaded to travel
more by bus despite potential incentives
for them to switch modes. 30% had the
same view about travel by train. So for
those looking to encourage a switch,
the glass is more than half full! Three
quarters and 70% of travellers could be
persuaded to travel by bus or rail more
often respectively if the mix of incentives
were right.
Figure 5: % of respondents who chose to travel
by car, bus and train because of price

38%

19%

9%

46%

33%

42%

32%

17%

21%

18-34

35-54

55+

Factors that would encourage more bus or

train travel include:
Reliability if the service departed
and arrived on time, consistently,
with 34% saying they would likely use
the bus more, and 19% saying they
might use the train more if this were
improved.
Convenience 27% say they would be
encouraged to use the bus and 17% the
train, if it had a timetable more suited
to their needs.
Speed 34% say they might use the
bus more and 15% the train, if it were
faster.
Interestingly, all of these are higher (if
only slightly) than the equivalent figures
last year. This is an encouraging indicator
that the appetite to switch modes
under the right circumstances is edging
upwards.

Customer-related technologies falling

under the banner of smart ticketing also
generated positive responses toward a
potential change of mode. Some 7% of
respondents said they would be more
encouraged to take the bus and 6% the
train if information on ticket prices were
easier to understand or if it were easier
to purchase a ticket, implying that smart
ticketing coupled with associated tailored
information services could be effective
in increasing public transport patronage
without needing to alter fares. With
the emergence of mobile as a means for
payment as well as accessing passenger
information, it is interesting that 9%
of respondents would be encouraged
to travel by bus and 5% by train if they
were able to receive real-time journey
information on their mobile devices.
At first glance these figures towards
incentives enabled by smart technologies
seem small in comparison to the big ticket
items of price and speed. However, if it were
achievable, encouraging 5-9% of travellers
to shift from car to bus or train would
represent a significant uplift for public
transport operators. Indeed, the panoply
of responses suggests that customers are
alive to the possibility of shifting to different
means of transport and that there is much
public transport operators can do to offer
attractive alternatives.

Figure 6: Which, if any, of the following reasons would encourage you to travel by bus/train?

39

If it were cheaper

54
34

If it were more reliable

19
27

If it had a timetable that was more

suited to my travel needs

17
34

If it were faster

15
6
6

If information on ticket prices were easier to understand

If the transport and stations were cleaner

9
8

If timetable information were easier to understand

9
7
12

If it were safer

If there was more information available in real time at the

bus stop or station about how services are running

If it were easier to buy a ticket

6
6

If there was more information in real time on my smartphone

or other electronic device about how services are running

7
5

If it were less polluting

Other

3
2
7
7
25
30

Nothing would make me take this type more often

0%

10%
Bus

20%
Train

30%

40%

50%

60%

Behavioural trends in ticketing

While the potential for smart ticketing
is becoming more apparent, we wanted
to understand whether passengers were
taking advantage of the smart ticketing
options currently available and, if not, what
would persuade people to start using them.
Of those who travel by bus and/or train, 56%
normally use an ordinary paper ticket for
their journey. This is followed by 19% who
use a dedicated transport smart card.
In the future, only 42% would prefer to
use an ordinary paper ticket for their bus/
train journeys, while 27% would like to
use a dedicated transport smart card.
This future preference for use of a paper
ticket is 3% lower than it was in our March
2013 survey, when 45% of respondents
expressed that they wish to continue
using traditional paper tickets. Its clearly
encouraging that this is moving in the
right direction, but more needs to be done
to convince the public of the benefits of
alternative ticketing means.
Combined, the future preference
for the self-service modes of print at
home, mobile device, smart cards and
contactless bank cards make up 45%,
more than the future preference for paper
tickets (42%). And indeed mobile devices
are 4% up in changes to future preference.

Interestingly, the future preferences for

dedicated smart cards are 2% down when
compared to 2013s survey responses.
This may be a turning point, reflecting a
new awareness of how mobile devices and
contactless bank cards can provide more
convenient ticketing options.
Figure 7: Overview of ticket usage and ticket preferences for bus and train journeys in UK

Current Usage
2014

56

Future
Preference

42

10

19
27

An ordinary paper ticket (e.g.

single, return, season ticket etc.)

A dedicated transport smart

card (e.g. Oyster Card)

A paper ticket which I print

off myself

A smartphone or other
electronic device

21

16

6 2

13

A debit or credit card

(excl payment for
separate tickets)
Other

Figure 8: Comparison of future ticketing preferences to March 2013 survey

Bus and rail ticketing in UK

Mobile
device

Contactless

Smart
card

Print
at home

Paper
ticket

Smart
Change in
preference from
March 2013 to
Sept 2014

4%

1%

2%

5%

3%

10

The use of smart ticketing across the

country
When we look at a combination of smart
card, contactless bank card and mobile
device usage for ticketing we see that in
London more than half (52%) of those
surveyed use smart ticketing
technologies. This compares with only
12% in the rest of the UK.

Figure 9: Overview of smart usage in London vs the rest of the UK

Using smart or contactless

bank card, or mobile device
Rest of the UK

12%

52%

Smart

11

Using smart or
contactless bank
card, or mobile
device in London

The regional breakdown in Figure 10

supports that smart card usage has been
primarily London-driven to date, where
Oyster has gained wide acceptance.
However, these regional differences
highlight some interesting findings. In
Northern Ireland, 23% of survey
respondents are currently using a
dedicated transport smart card.
Also, the percentage in the East Midlands
has risen sharply to 20%, up from 8% last
year. This suggests that even a smart
product offering that is more limited in
scope than Oyster can lead to significant
rates of smart card market penetration

even without high and highly concentrated

passenger volumes, and are therefore
achievable in areas outside of London.
Our recent report with The Smith
Institute All change: delivering future city
transport provides some possible
explanations. We interviewed and
surveyed councillors from across the UK
on their views of transport in their region.

As a result of bus deregulation,

councils cannot fully plan a network
with services that connect to each
other and to other modes of transport.
60% of councillors surveyed felt they
did not have enough powers to deliver
their transport plans.

The key findings were:

Capital investment in local transport
outside London has been the hardest
hit area of transport spending.

Figure 10: % of those currently using a dedicated transport smart card

60%

48%

50%
40%
30%

10%

23%

20%

20%

9%

13%

12%

10%

11%

6%

3%

5%

8%

0%
North
East

North
West

Yorks &
Humber

East
Midlands

West
Midlands

East of
England

London

South
East

South
West

Wales

Scotland

Northern
Ireland

12

Mobile ticketing makes an entrance

Theres a new entrant into ticketing in
London since our previous survey. Use of a
mobile device for ticketing in the capital
has increased from zero to 4% over the
past 18 months (Figure 11). More
significantly, there is a growing appetite
for using mobile devices for ticketing,
particularly among 18-34 year olds
(Figure 12). Nationally, 10% of young
adults now have a preference for using
their smart mobile device to access public
transport services in the future. For 35-54
year olds, this preference has gone up
from 2% to 5%.
This is encouraging because it means a
material proportion of customers are open
to a form of ticketing that can help reduce
the cost to serve for network operators.
More significantly, it opens up possibilities
for customers to interact with their travel
in a new way.

Figure 11: The use of mobile device ticketing in London

Mar 2013

4%

Sep 2014

Based on two independent surveys from different samples

Figure 12: % change in those who cite a preference for choosing a smart phone or other mobile device
for ticketing in the future in the UK

Mar 2013

6%

2%

2%

Sept 2014

10%

5%

2%

4%

3%

18-34

35-54

55+

Change

13

0%

Influencing customers to use smart

ticketing
The challenge in introducing a new form
of ticketing is in encouraging customers
to switch. Our survey findings suggest
that incentives can be effective in moving
passengers towards smart ticketing.
81% of those surveyed believed that at
least one thing could convince them to
ditch paper tickets in favour of using a
dedicated smart card if it were available
(Figure 13). This suggests there is
significant untapped potential to convert
customers to smart technologies.
In London, the Oyster card offers lower
fares than the paper ticket alternative
and this has proved very successful in
converting customers. The introduction
of contactless payments also comes with
the incentive that customers wont pay
more than the price of a weekly ticket
if they exceed that amount of travel in
a week using their card. Early signs of
take-up are encouraging, but well have
to wait until next years survey to see the
extent of its impact.
Clearly price discounts are a good way to
encourage a switch over half of those
we surveyed would consider switching if
this were the case. And the price promise
receives strong support also. However, the
third and fourth ranked incentives from
our survey are striking in that they do not

involve a discount at all. This reinforces

that price is only one of several levers
available to public transport operators to
increase ridership, and that improving the
service and developing a more intuitive
customer proposition are also important
in the eyes of the customer.
Figure 13: Which, if any, of the following do you think would make you more likely to use a dedicated
transport smart card, e.g. Oyster card, than you are now?
60%

57%

50%

40%

38%
33%

30%

27%
18%

20%

17%

19%

10%

0%
10% discount on all travel
compared to paper tickets
A commitment that you
will always pay the lowest
available fare

The option to use the smart

ticket on multiple forms of
transport
Loyalty points to use in
exchange for discounts on
future journeys

5% discount on all travel

compared to paper tickets
Tailored real-time information
on my journey
Nothing would make me
more likely to use a dedicated
transport smart card

14

Enhancing the public transport service

offering
If bus and train are going to offer an
alternative to private car use then they
need to build a competitive advantage.
To do that they need to build a
strong customer service offering that
differentiates public transport from
the car. One way they can do this is by
offering additional products and services
to enhance passenger experience, increase
convenience and build loyalty. We included
an additional question in our survey this
year to explore some of these potential
value-added services. It produced some
interesting findings (Figure 14):
1. People want to be connected and
productive while travelling. 37% and
23% of those surveyed would like Wi-Fi
or power sources respectively installed
on their method of transport. When we
focus on the 18-35 year olds alone,
these figures rise to 57% and 38%.
2. T here is appetite for a loyalty or
rewards scheme on public transport
services. 30% and 16% of respondents
said they would like to see a loyalty
card for discounts on travel or the
ability to earn discounts on other goods
and services respectively. This
increased to 40% and 26% for our
younger polled category. Some train
operators already provide some form of
scheme, or link to existing schemes.
15

3. A customers journey does not start

and finish at a station. Some 9% of
respondents would like to see car hire
available at their chosen station. 8%
wanted cycle hire.

4. There is a market for online

collection services linked to stations.
Some 10% in our survey said that they
would like to see shopping collect /
return services at stations. This figure
was 22% for our 18-34 year olds.

Figure 14: Are there any other products and/or services that you would like to see offered with the
transport methods you commonly use?
60%

50%

40%

30%

37%
30%
23%

20%

16%
10%

10%

9%

8%

8%

0%
Wi-Fi services on-board
Loyalty card discounts on
travel
Power sockets / sockets
on board

The ability to earn discounts

on other goods and services

Goods and services ordering

facilities

Shopping collect services

and online shopping return
services at stations

Short-term cycle hire

Short term car hire for

journeys to and from your
mode of transport

18-34 year olds

Further expanding the operating model

We said last year that the current
operating model for the public transport
sector was not set up with smart ticketing
in mind and that changes in this model
would be necessary in order for the full
benefits of smart to be realised. We hold
to that view, but take it one stage further
now in considering an additional role in
the mix.
Traditionally, public transport operators
have been responsible for every interaction
with their customers throughout the endto-end customer journey from provision
of information, selling and validating
tickets and providing the journey,
through to customer service and handling
of complaints. As the sector moves
interestingly towards smart ticketing as
we believe it is and must other entities
will become involved in the service.
At a minimum, there will need to be
some separation of roles to allow for
greater connectivity between schemes
across the country. Already there are
entities emerging that are playing a role
in determining the customer experience.
Last time we stated the potential for five
key roles this time we are adding an
additional role to that list.

1. Smart ticketing scheme owner:

These organisations are responsible
for defining the rules and fares within
a transport ticketing scheme. For
these to succeed, government needs to
devolve more powers to these
organisations in selected economic
regions.
2. Transport operator: Bus and train
operators are responsible for running
services, either independently or in
accordance with local contracts or
national franchises.
3. Account provider: This is a newer
role in ticketing, dealing with a
customers account and making sure
they have what they need (e.g. a smart
card) to use participating public
transport services.

5. Retailer: This used to be only the bus

or train operator, but new entrants are
already in play, particularly with third
party rail retailers. More will enter
this market as smart ticketing takes
hold. However, we will see a
diminishing need for physically
located retailers as more customers
manage accounts through self-service
and switch to contactless payments.
6. Information service provider:
We have included this as a new player
this year. Information provision is
becoming more tightly linked with
ticketing so that tailored, relevant
information is pushed to a traveller.
This clearly has the ability to influence
customer choice. The customer data
the information service provider uses
and holds is important in helping to
set and flex pricing structures.

4. Back office provider: Working to a

scheme, there is an emerging role to
carry out fare calculations based on a
passengers use of a scheme, including
providing the link between the
scheme owner and the account
provider.

16

In some circumstances these can, of

course, all be one and the same entity.
But if the customer experience is to be
seamless across the country, these new
roles in the travel chain will need to
emerge. We are already seeing more
players entering the market with a view
to owning the customer including
banks and mobile network operators as
smart ticketing moves to the next
generation of innovative products. This is
where we see the public transport
operating model fundamentally
changing, becoming more akin to the
mobile or the bank card industry, with a
separation between the retailer and the
account provider.
We need collaboration between all of
these to make sure smart ticketing works
seamlessly for all modes of public
transport across the country.

17

We should not forget that the central

figure in any future operating model is
the customer. Transport operators have a
real opportunity to do more for their
customers, starting with how they design
and develop smart ticketing schemes.
However, creating an appealing
customer proposition inevitably requires
an upfront investment, with implications
for any transport operators business and
ticketing strategy. In tackling these
challenges transport operators and other
players considering entering the smart
ticketing market will need to consider
the following:
Do we need to design for multiple
ticketing solutions to cater for changing
consumer preferences ranging from
traditional forms of cash payment to
mobile or contactless bank cards?

How can we take advantage of smart

ticketing as a platform for new
marketing campaigns and pricing
models to attract new customers and
drive demand?
What are the cost implications and
how can investments be effectively
managed to maximise return?
How should any smart ticketing
offering link to other types of services
provided to consumers?
Having clarity on the answers to these
questions will help operators and others
involved in the sector to develop a
coherent and realistic vision that can
deliver the smart ticketing benefits for all
stakeholders operators, government
and passengers.

Conclusions

The findings from our survey provide some

important indicators to realising the
benefits that smart ticketing can offer:
1. Convenience is paramount
2. Better information can encourage
modal shift
3. T he appetite for smart ticketing is
growing
4. Price is a key driver for passengers to
change to smart
5. Fare commitments provide a
compelling case to switch to smart
6. Additional products and services on
transport services and in stations can
improve the attraction of public
transport

7. Separating roles in the operating

model will enable widespread rollout
Success for smart ticketing will depend on
the extent to which all those involved in
public transport provision decide to put
smart ticketing at the heart of services.
Government has been encouraging this
through subsidies and contract incentives.
But operators and local authorities will
need to have a clear, joined-up vision on the
customer offering if it is to return on the
investment required to achieve significant
market penetration.
Our survey indicates that there is appetite
for smart ticketing, which suggests the scale
necessary for a good return on investment
can be achieved. But this will happen only if
the customer proposition is clearly
articulated and there is a high degree of
collaboration among all those involved in
delivering smart ticketing services.

18

About the survey

This research was conducted in Autumn 2014 under the strict guidelines of the Market Research
Society Code of Conduct by Opinium Research, a research and insight generation agency offering a
range of qualitative, quantitative, and collaborative methods (www.opinium.co.uk). 2000 people
participated in an online interview.

Who we surveyed:
Region

Age

Gender

Female
51%

Male
49%

55+
36%

18-34
29%

Northern
Ireland North East
Scotland
North West
3 4
8%
Wales
11%
5%
Yorks & Humber
8%
South West 9%
7%

35-54
35%

14%

9%

South East
13%
London

About PwC

East Midlands

West Midlands

9%

East of England

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Contacts

19

Jamie Houghton
Partner
Tel: +44 (0)7718 778662
jamie.n.houghton@uk.pwc.com

Grant Klein
Director
Tel: +44 (0)7730 146631
grant.a.klein@uk.pwc.com

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