DP
Hradec Kralove Spearheads the Mobile
Ticketing Revolution in the Czech Republic
After introducing the HopOn mobile ticketing solution for municipal transportation, Hradec Kralove has become the first Czech city to offer residents a seamless travel experience.
The award-winning HopOn platform fully supports the public transportation operator’s existing ticket types and validation process, with only a minimum of upfront and operational expense. With the successful adoption of mobile ticketing in Hradec Kralove, other municipal Czech transit operators are currently evaluating the HopOn m-ticketing solution.
The Client
Dopravní Podnik Mésta Hradce Králové (DP) is the municipality-owned PTO of the Czech city of Hradec Králové. Located in the region of Bohemia, the town boasts close to 100,000 inhabitants. With its fleet of nearly 200 trolley and motor buses, DP operates across all parts of the city and its suburbs.
M-Ticketing Solution
Until October 2017, DP passengers couldn’t purchase tickets online; they had to buy paper tickets or smart cards at local points of sales. Single ride tickets could also be purchased at a surcharge when boarding the bus.
DP decided to introduce a mobile ticketing solution, which would be the first of its kind in bus transportation countrywide. They chose the flexible HopOn platform that could fully support their existing
ticketing and validation set-up. As the solution offers a hardware-free validation option, it also minimized upfront and operational costs.
Ticket Purchase:
Through the HopOn mobile app, passengers can now buy any type of DP ticket online – from single ride to 24-hour ride and periodical zone passes. The app is integrated with DP’s clearing platform to process credit and debit cards, direct and a series of alternative payments.
The HopOn app lets users conveniently buy and activate their tickets, in any scenario:
– Purchasing multiple tickets – in a single purchase.
– Purchasing tickets for other users – such as family members or employees.
– Receiving profiled tariffs – upon submission of relevant documents, eligibility for special tariffs
(child, student, senior citizen, etc.) is saved in a user’s profile and
automatically applied with every purchase.
– Acquiring periodical zone passes – for future activation dates.
The service is also available through SMS cloud connection for offline users or when Wi-Fi is not accessible.
Validation and Inspection:
DP uses a self-check-in model. When boarding, passengers activate their tickets independently through the HopOn-DP mobile app. The app supports passengers with zone passes or with single ride tickets that are valid on a single line during a 45 or 60-minute period.
Since fares don’t depend on the distance travelled, but on time since activation, there is no need for check-out during day time, when DP inspectors circulate. After 7 PM when random inspection stops, passengers must show their m-tickets to the driver upon leaving the bus.
For m-ticket control, DP deploys the easy-to-use HopOn Inspect App. To avoid fraud, only m-tickets purchased at least two minutes before inspection are considered valid. DP uses the HopOn Dashboard.
Results
In the short period since its introduction, m-ticketing has been adopted by a growing number of DP passengers who are highly satisfied with the convenience and reliability of the system. The successful deployment of the HopOn solution serves as a showcase for other municipal transport agencies. Similarly, this has been a useful model for the Czech Transit Organization, as they are aiming to introduce a unified mobile ticketing solution across the country.