Bus Companies

Have you considered taking your people transportation business online?

Online ticketing, live manifests, and agent access are all possible with Your Cloud.  

Are you using a manual process to handle tickets and bookings? Perhaps you have a legacy ticketing system but is is not reaching out to your customers using the vast array of social and online tools.

If this sounds like you then keep reading for an example of how the right combination of products and services from WebVantage, revenue gaines and operational improvements will become a reality for your business.

Executive summary

Your business will be equipped with a state of the art ticketing system, letting your customers make bookings, pay and receive a printable ticket from the comfort of their web browser. Your agents will be able to check availability and make bookings on behalf of their customers.

You will not be just gaining an online booking tool; the solution contains a powerful back end application, capable of managing your entire operation. The systems will be set up according to your needs, and your staff will be given training to ensure they fully understand the technology.

The solution will be built using a combination of industry proven technology built by WebVantage and  delivered using a range of expert consulting.

The solution will ensure that a quality booking service can be experienced by customers and agents while minimizing the resource requirements of staff.

In creating the solution, WebVantage will consider the following groups of people:

• Management – managers and senior stakeholders;
• Drivers – employees responsible for operating services;
• Office Staff – employees responsible for day to day administration and customer service;
• Agents – travel agents who will be creating tickets and booking customers on services; and
• Customers – your customers.

Customers and agents will be able to book, pay for and confirm itineraries without the need to contact your staff.

Your Staff

Staff are given access to an administration portal which provides the ability to manage the entire system. Managers will be able to see the status of the business, including sales figures by route and by agent - all in real-time.

The administration portal is entirely web based, so all that is needed is a computer with internet access and web browser. Staff will be able to create services, set pricing and give employees access to the system so that they may provide customer service and perform day to day administration.

Ticketing

The solution will be the central point for the management of ticketing. It will manage tickets generated by customers directly through your website, through ticketing agents, and directly via your offices by phone or walk in. Because your cloud integrates all ticketing sources, there is no need to synchronise information between two or more systems or perform any duplicate data entry.

When a customer is to be issued with a ticket, the solution will generate an eTicket in the form of a PDF file which can be emailed to the customer and printed out. The tickets will have a secured individual number, so that staff can validate the authenticity of a ticket presented by a customer.

Website Booking

Your cloud will facilitate customers booking directly through the your website. The booking functionality will be embedded directly into the website, completely taking on its look and feel.

The customer will not be redirected to another website or have any popups to navigate.
Upon clicking the link to "book now", the customer will be presented with a form which asks for the intended date of travel and the origin.

After making a selection from a drop down menu for the origin, another drop down menu will be presented with valid destinations as well as asking if the booking is to be one way or return. The customer will be prompted for the number of people travelling and they will then click submit. Services which match these criteria will then be presented along with fares and the option to purchase the seat(s).

The customer will be asked to provide additional details, such as contact information and details of concessions. The specific information asked for and the exact booking steps will be determined during the project.

The customer will be asked for a credit card number and will be able to pay for the journey. Monies from customer payments will be deposited directly into your merchant facility. After a successful booking, the ticket will be emailed to the customer as well as being displayed on the screen.

Agent Bookings

Travel agents will be able to book tickets on behalf of their customers for your services through the agent portal. The agent portal will be embedded into your website in a similar manner to the customer booking screens.

Travel agents will be assigned a username and password by a staff member from within the administration portal. Once logged in, the travel agent will be able to create a fully ticketed booking for their customer by entering all the needed details and searching for available seats. The ticket can be emailed to the travel agent and the customer as well as being printable by the travel agent.

The travel agent will also be able to reprint replacement tickets on behalf of their customers should the need arise, and have tickets resent to their email address. Travel agents will be able to make changes to and cancel bookings for their customers based on a set of business rules which will be configured to meet your needs during the deployment project.

Service Operation

To facilitate the operation of the services and to ensure accuracy with record keeping, the solution will have functionality to print manifests and record details of no shows. To simplify this operation, these functions can be performed by either the driver or an office staff member from any computer with a web browser and an internet connection.

Prior to the commencement of a service, a detailed manifest and trip planner can be printed off. The manifest will be up to date at the time of printing and will take into account all bookings from all sources.

Next Steps...

Consider this just an example of the potential that Your Cloud could offer if your business. Book a time to talk to an experienced WebVantage consultant now, your first consultation is free, so why wait!