A top provider of public transport apps and websites is to bring its cutting edge transport technology to one of the country’s biggest bus companies.

Passenger will deliver 15 apps and six websites for Go-Ahead Group’s UK bus operations as part of a new five-year contract.

Go-Ahead, which has a fleet of more than 5,600 buses, will move from developing digital solutions in-house to using Passenger’s market-leading digital service platform to power the apps and websites for its UK bus operators.

Passenger has extensive experience in delivering large scale systems to transport operators and authorities.

They include fully PCI-compliant mobile app ticketing, network dataset management and real-time systems.

The Westbourne-based company will manage the migration of customers, including those with active tickets, to the new platform.

Katy Taylor, pictured left, Go-Ahead’s Chief Strategy and Customer Officer, said: “Go-Ahead is focused on delivering the best experience for our customers.

“We already have close to one million users of our mobile apps and we hope to see that increase as Passenger help us welcome customers back after the pandemic.

“Our new five-year partnership will help us to build on this success across all our UK bus companies.”

In a significant new development for Go-Ahead, each of the Passenger-powered apps and websites will offer integrated web-to-mobile eCommerce.

Customers will be able to buy tickets on the web and use them instantly in apps, making planning journeys, purchasing tickets and using them even easier.

Brighton & Hove bus customers will also benefit from an integrated contactless portal providing access to contactless payment history alongside mobile ticketing in its new Passenger app and website.

Go-Ahead will also begin rolling out Passenger’s business accounts later this year, giving greater functionality and control to its B2B customers.

Passenger is fast becoming known for its innovative digital developments.

They include the introduction of contact-free ticket verifications and ticket pauses in the early stages of the Covid pandemic.

The partnership with Go-Ahead will see the number of UK operators Passenger works with increase by a third.

The operators include Yellow Buses, Cardiff Bus, Blackpool Transport, Reading Buses, Transdev and Xplore Dundee as well as existing Go-Ahead operators, morebus and Brighton & Hove.

Tom Quay, pictured right, Passenger’s CEO, said: “I’m delighted to announce our partnership with Go-Ahead.

“Our businesses are very aligned in our ambitions for growth in public transport.

“Our platform has developed over the last five years into a powerful tool to deliver the kind of customer experience that we all want to be on the receiving end of.

“Especially as we are re-evaluating how we travel and what is important to us, in the wake of the challenges we’ve all faced over the last year.

“I’d like to welcome Go South West, Go North West, Metrobus and Oxford Bus Company, who we’ll be working with for the first time.

“A huge thank you goes to the Go-Ahead teams we have worked so closely with over the last few years and who have been our biggest advocates.

“We are relishing the opportunity to bring our cutting-edge technology to more passengers across the UK, to continue enabling safe and reliable travel and making shared public transport the first choice.”

Passenger began life in 2008 as We are Base, a digital agency with a team of three.

Base launched an e-commerce website for Yellow Buses, which was a big success, and by 2010 released its first customer journey planner.

Further transport customers followed and, in 2015, Passenger Technology Group was formed to provide a foundation for the company’s software product development.

It is now all the business does with a mission to make sustainable shared transport the first choice for everyone.

From the initial three, Passenger now employs a team of 20 and is currently recruiting.

Yellow Buses, which was acquired by its management team in 2019, announced last year that it had signed up for another four years with Passenger.

David Squire, pictured left, Managing Director, told Dorset Biz News: “We were one of the first operators to work with Passenger.

“They provide both our website platform and our mobile app with the background payment system.

“As a locally owned and operated company, we’re very pleased to work with local suppliers such as Passenger.”