Carousel Buses rolls out app enhancements to support network expansion

Carousel Buses has joined a growing list of operators offering customers access to real-time contactless journey information and personalised travel alerts through its Passenger app.

Following the closure of Arriva’s High Wycombe and Aylesbury depots over the summer, Carousel Buses launched new services, with an additional 35 buses, across Buckinghamshire as part of a major £2.5 million investment to take on the services.

Dubbed ‘Freeflow’, Carousel Buses’ ‘TOTO’ (tap on, tap off) payment is operational on all new services following its introduction at the company in early 2020. This autumn, Passenger has enabled its Contactless Journeys capability in the popular app to support Carousel’s expansion, alongside expanded network and timetable information, supported by personalised notifications when things change.

Although Freeflow is simple and flexible, some customers can feel they have less control over how much they’re spending. And in today’s economic climate, we must be mindful of that reality. That’s why we introduced our ‘Contactless Journeys‘ feature in mid-2022 – supplemented by a cap tracker in October 2023. These innovative features provide peace of mind so that people can enjoy the flexibility of capping without worrying about overspending.

With Contactless Journeys, customers simply (and securely) register their cards in the app, and then they can monitor their spending in real time. And now, with the ability to track progress against caps, they have more info than ever to guide their travel decisions. This feature even works with caps covering different zones or running across parallel periods – making it simultaneous and seamless.

Once a cap has been reached, and it’s laid out visually and handily on their phone, customers may take advantage of hopping on the bus for an extra journey or two. After all, they’ll have effectively ‘earned’ it by having paid throughout the day, so we want to make sure they don’t miss out.

These features clearly highlight the convenience of capping, and boost customer confidence that they are getting the best possible value. Customers can view how much they’re spending (and saving) on both the app and the website. Plus, operator staff can view this information in Passenger Cloud, which helps them deliver good customer service.

Luke Marion, Managing Director of Carousel Buses said: “Given the success of Contactless Journeys within the app at our sister operators Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel, we’re excited to introduce this feature for Carousel customers too. With Freeflow, our customers can effortlessly tap on and tap off, ensuring they never pay more than the day ticket price and don’t need to worry about having the right fare or asking for the correct ticket.”

“We think this will be another step-change in bus travel for Carousel Buses customers,” added Luke.

Personalised Travel Alerts, launched in October, is a powerful new capability 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.

The new capabilities are designed to provide advanced information to passengers, building trust in their local bus services. If you’d like to find out more, please contact us.