The Cardiff web agency Imaginet, has become the first UK web and development agency to become a registered ITSO supplier. Having worked over the last decade with a range of transport companies on their retail websites, the company has more recently been developing smartcard portals for the Go-Ahead Group.
What is ITSO?
ITSO is an open specification for smart ticketing in the transport sector. Local authorities use the ITSO Specification to implement smart ticketing for national, government-funded concessionary travel schemes, while commercial transport operators use the Specification as the ‘guts’ behind their own branded smart ticketing schemes.
The ultimate aim of ITSO is to ensure that all public transport operators throughout Great Britain can develop compatible smart ticketing systems, so that different operators’ smart ticketing systems can ‘talk’ to each other.
Imaginet's work in transport.
Imaginet has worked extensively in transport over the last decade, launching a wide range of websites for Rail, Bus and Local Authorities. The past five years have seen the company concentrate on the development of functional and fully integrated smart ticketing portals, allowing customers to add tickets to a smartcard, top it up and manage their account on-line.
Working closely with ACT, the ITSO-accredited HOPS and Card Management System (CMS) supplier, Imaginet has delivered a range of smart ticketing portals for the Go-Ahead Group. They have launched eleven consumer retail portals for the key, several B2B portals allowing corporates to manage multiple accounts on-line and most recently, the portal for the Southern Railway pay as you go scheme called keyGo, which is being piloted in London at present.
Imaginet designed the key portals to be simple yet attractive; with intuitive navigation so that customers can get to the information or function they want quickly, no matter what device they are using. Features of the portals include:
- Account and Card Management
A customer’s card and account details can be viewed and managed on-line, including the management of several payment cards and contact details - Ticket selection and on-line retailing
Customers can select and buy a new ticket to add to a smartcard. With Bus Companies covering large geographical areas, a variety of selection methods are used to help a customer select the correct ticket, such as the use of maps and other selection tools - Top-up and continuous authority
The portals can allow customers to top-up manually with a card or with the use of continuous authority function to automatically generate a top-up or renew request when a ticket is expiring or funds depleted. The Go North East key portal (https://www.simplygo.com/buy-tickets-online/) also offers PayPal - Journey and transaction history
Customers can view their recent journeys and transactions via the portals with quick links to top-up - Replacement cards
Customers can report their card as lost, damaged or stolen on-line and if the Bus Company wishes to charge for a replacement, this can be paid on-line before a new card is issued - Reporting and monitoring
Imaginet back up the superb functionality with high service levels, implemented a variety of monitoring tools to ensure that all web services integrated into the portals are working properly at all times and respond rapidly if something goes wrong. - Interfaces to third party web sites
Offering the full service, Imaginet has extensive experience in integrating third party data to display essential passenger information ranging from NRES for information on disruptions and stations through to Visit Britain for tourism content.
Speaking from their offices in Cardiff, Paula Dauncey, Accounts Director for Imaginet said:
“We believe our transport websites and portals set the benchmark in the sector and we are continuing to innovate with the introduction of fully responsive portals and other transport tools that add real value to the end-customer as well as meeting objectives for the operating companies. We’re delighted to be a registered supplier with ITSO and welcome the opportunity to discuss our services with any members interested in developing a fully integrated smart portal."
Riz Wahid, Head of Retail at the Go-Ahead group commented:
“The key portals are an essential part of Go-Ahead’s retail offering and Imaginet have helped us to deliver smartcard services to our customers with great reliability and innovation. We are consistently impressed with their design and technical skills.”
For further information, please call Paula Dauncey on 029 2057 4515 or email paula.dauncey@imaginet.co.uk.
