Ticketer has launched an exciting additional driver alert feature on their Electronic Ticketing Machine (ETMs) which will bring further benefits to public transport operators and drivers.
Due to changing schedules, road closures and rail replacement services, drivers can often find themselves along unfamiliar routes where restricted access, such as width and height limitations, may prevent the safe passage of some buses. Answering an industry wide call for a solution, Ticketer’s new Road Restriction feature alerts drivers when they are approaching a restricted access area that cannot safely accommodate the vehicle, warning the driver that it would be inadvisable to cross under or through.
Utilising a regularly updated national gazetteer of restricted roads across the UK, together with dimensions of the vehicles, the ETM can detect when the bus is approaching any restricted roads and warn the driver via a visible and audible alert.
Jason Mann, Head of Product at Ticketer comments:
“Extending the Ticketer ETM to deliver this functionality means there are no additional hardware needs or additional installation requirements, cutting down on unnecessary costs and ensuring immediate rollout to operators. Furthermore, as with all Ticketer upgrades, the RRA feature can be simply uploaded to the ETMs over the air without the need for a site visit to deliver this much-needed solution.”
A successful pilot is already underway with several operators, including First Bus, one of the UK’s largest bus operators, who are leading the trial.
Simon Pearson, Commercial Director at First Bus added:
“Ticketer’s enhanced driver alert functionality improves our drivers’ access to critical information. The seamless implementation of this customer-focused technology will allow us to introduce the update at pace and with ease, right across our UK-wide fleet. We look forward to working with Ticketer over the coming months to integrate learnings from the pilot and support the wider rollout of this important ETM update.”
For further information about Ticketer’s new RRA feature, please see our product information page.
About First Bus
First Bus is one of the UK’s largest bus operators. Making journeys easier for our customers, we were the first national bus operator to accept contactless card payments across all of our services and our First Bus App is voted ‘best in class’ amongst UK bus operators. Our most recent investments are in new, state-of-the-art buses across our key networks. We work proactively with our local authority partners, making a positive impact on air quality, tackling congestion and improving customer experience. We are focused on First Bus becoming a leader in the transition to a low-carbon future and are committed to operating a zero-emission bus fleet by 2035; we have pledged not to purchase any new diesel buses after December 2022. We also operate the Aircoach network in Ireland. First Bus is a division of FirstGroup.
For further information please contact:
Mercedes Llewellyn
mercedes.llewellyn@ticketer.co.uk
