Go-Ahead Ireland Passenger launch introduces revenue protection tools and GTFS input support as standard

We are pleased to announce that Passenger has added a new subsidiary of the Go-Ahead brand to its roster of valued partners. Go-Ahead Ireland now joins Go South Coast and Brighton and Hove Bus as a Passenger customer, with a deployment of Passenger products that includes a new corporate website, timetables, service updates, attractions and the first implementation of Passenger-developed revenue protection tools.

The Go-Ahead Ireland launch also marks Passenger’s first overseas initiative, and as such it is the first Passenger deployment to support GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification) inputs as its primary source.

All prior Passenger product releases have occurred within the UK, marking the Go-Ahead Ireland deployment as an exciting milestone for the team.

Revenue Protection Tools
The Go-Ahead Ireland launch sees the first implementation of Passenger’s new revenue protection tools, which allow for easier administration of penalty fares.

Using this new system, Go-Ahead Ireland can issue a fine to customers riding a bus without a valid ticket, which the customer can then pay online via the Passenger website.

GTFS inputs as standard
As an operator based in Ireland, Go-Ahead Ireland does not employ the TransXChange data format as standard. As such, we created a version of the Passenger product that accepts the GTFS global data standard as its primary input.

Passenger has historically utilised the UK Department for Transport’s TransXChange data standard within its products, but the development team also has a great deal of expertise in using GTFS under the hood of Passenger’s systems. This allowed for a quick and straightforward deployment of the Go-Ahead Ireland GTFS-led platform.

This development opens up the scope of Passenger products beyond the UK’s borders to operators who do not use the TransXChange format as standard.

Ed Wills, Managing Director at Go-Ahead Ireland comments: “Passenger’s work around our requirements for revenue protection and incorporating the GTFS standard has been extremely accommodating. Our customers are now able to benefit from a range of features included in the Passenger product, while our revenue protection officers are more easily able to do their jobs on the buses in Dublin.”

Tom Quay, CEO at Passenger comments: “It’s great to be working with Ed again in his new role as Managing Director in Dublin. It’s an impressive operation he and the team have set up there, and it’s great to be supporting Go-Ahead Ireland with a new Passenger website. We’ve worked closely to design a system and process that will support their revenue protection requirements under contract to the NTA. We’re delighted to see it go live.”

Please get in touch if you would like to know more about Passenger and our work in revenue protection and incorporating the GTFS standard.