Great Western Railway to deploy iBlocks smartTIS PAYG ticketing solution across Bristol area
24 June 22
iBlocks, part of the Tracsis Group, has been selected by Great Western Railway (GWR) as its Pay As You Go (PAYG) ticketing partner. GWR plans to deploy iBlocks’ smartTIS PAYG Account Based Ticketing (ABT) solution across the wider Bristol area. The ABT solution will enhance the GWR customer offer by enabling a frictionless tap and travel experience while ensuring the best value fare for journeys made across the day and week.
GWR is currently developing a smartcard scheme to be trialled later this year which will include single leg pricing and capping within a series of zonal areas.
Lee Edworthy, Head of Retail for GWR comments: "We’re delighted to be working with iBlocks to introduce this innovative ticketing solution for our customers in the Bristol area. We’re very excited about the impending customer launch of our scheme and the future opportunities the smartTIS solution provides. We have a great relationship with the iBlocks team, who have been very efficient and flexible with the delivery of our requirements."
iBlocks smartTIS ABT back office will be integrated with the www.gwr.com website to allow customers to register for the scheme, review their journey history and manage their account preferences.
The service is expected to be available to customers later this year and is the first step in delivering a wider scheme to other areas of the GWR network. Future plans could also see the inclusion of bus services and other transport modes to offer a true multi-modal solution. iBlocks smartTIS is token agnostic which allows a simple migration path from existing smart cards to barcode or bank card without changes to the core ABT back office.
Tim Brewer, Managing Director of iBlocks comments: "We have a strong relationship with GWR and we are looking forward to delivering an enhanced ticketing offer to its customers through smartTIS and the convenience and value that it will bring."
Following the new agreement GWR becomes iBlocks’ third major rail customer, alongside Govia Thameslink Railway and South Western Railway. Together these Train Operating Companies (TOCs) represent over 35% of the UK rail travel market. iBlocks smartTIS is the only PAYG back office solution accredited by the industry-wide Rail Delivery Group and is ideally placed to extend iBlocks ABT offering across the UK.
Chris Barnes, CEO of the Tracsis Group comments: "When we acquired iBlocks we saw the benefit that the company can bring to customers in the rail sector, and it was a natural fit with our existing business. We are committed to supporting iBlocks becoming a key contributor to the aspirations of Great British Railways in Account Based Ticketing."
