Passenger launches personalised travel alert app notifications

Today, Passenger is celebrating the launch of personalised travel alerts in its highly-rated white-label mobile app product, used by over 40 bus companies across the UK to sell tickets and provide travel information to customers planning their journeys.

The powerful new capability is designed to keep customers informed about the changes that matter most to them. The new feature, available on iOS and Android, uses existing data to deliver real-time notifications about planned and unplanned changes on the network in a targeted, relevant, and frictionless way for operators and customers.

Personalised travel alerts allow customers to receive app push notifications directly related to their travel preferences, using their favourite services and stops to determine relevancy. This personalised approach ensures that communications help customers stay informed without feeling overwhelmed by unnecessary updates — a step change in how this information is traditionally shared, replacing the need to broadcast on social media channels.

Here’s how it works:

• Alert notifications are sent immediately when an unplanned disruption is created in Passenger’s app management system, Passenger Cloud.

• For planned network changes, push notifications are sent two days before the change takes effect, giving customers enough time to change their journey plans.

In an age of information overload, customers are bombarded with notifications constantly on their mobile phones. With this update, Passenger has ensured that notifications are targeted to specific customers based on individual preferences, making communications more relevant and valuable.

Unlike a blanket broadcast approach, this strategy helps prevent customers from feeling overwhelmed by irrelevant notifications, increasing engagement and continuing to build trust in public transport.

Proactive communication is key to building trust, especially when things don’t go as planned. By delivering timely, relevant updates, customers are empowered with the information they need to make informed decisions about their travel. This increased transparency helps build confidence in the network’s reliability and encourages customers to use the bus more often — an essential element in reducing car dependency.

Personalised travel alerts also significantly reduce operational costs by reducing the need for customer support. When customers are informed proactively, they are less likely to contact customer service teams, saving an estimated £5 to £12 per contact.

Tom Quay, CEO of Passenger, comments, “Introducing personalised travel alerts to the Passenger app solution is another huge milestone for us this year. Operators are working hard, day in and day out, to deliver local bus services that customers can trust. This latest update uses existing information from operators and delivers it proactively to customers in a highly targeted way. This update has the potential to be game-changing for passengers.”

For more information or a demo of the new capability, please contact us.