The FARA and Kirei Partnership
Computer security service company Kirei AB was one of the first to implement new back-office solutions following the BoB standard. Today, these solutions are grouped under the product name Bobcat, and are owned by the company Bobcat Ticketing Solution AB, of which FARA has part ownership. FARA has contributed to this development project by evaluating the various proposals throughout the standardisation phase of the new solutions. Through the cooperation with Kirei, FARA have been able to make optimal use of resources, providing customers across the Swedish market with the very best within ticketing solutions.
The Lynx Project, Sweden
The implementation of Bobcat started a couple of years back, with the LYNX project in Sweden. FARA was selected to partner in a development project for better ticketing solutions across Halland, Jönköping and Kronoberg. FARA helped develop applications and new ticketing sales channels for Passenger Transport Authorities (PTA’s) across these counties, using the new national ticketing standard.
The various applications FARA has delivered are:
- A passenger Mobile application – which include options for ticket purchase, travel planner, real-time travel information and booking of demand responsive transport.
- Driver tool for on-board ticket sale
- Portable ticketing and inspection of tickets
- Ticket application for retail ticket sales outlets.
The Strætó Delivery, Iceland
The public transport authority in Reykjavik, Strætó, partnered with FARA as their main supplier for introducing a brand-new ticketing system across the Reykjavik region. Similar applications to that of the LYNX project have been implemented, with FARA leading the way in further developments of Bobcat. New and additional features still to come will include:
- Passenger Ticket Account – “My Pages”, with features like ticketing purchase, journey history, linked accounts with family members, and a number of other functionalities.
- Dedicated Customer Service application for Strætó’s customer center, enabling smooth passenger support for ticket related queries.
- Contactless Credit Card functionality.
- Ticketing Discount Concept – “BestPrice”. With this new concept, passengers no longer need to pre-purchase a season ticket to take advantage of the discount a season ticket provides. Through algorithms in the back office, discounts are applied based on actual travel. This means that passengers no longer pay upfront for a service that may, or may not be used, but simply pay for the actual trips made. Passengers can still benefit from the discounts from traditional up-front purchases such as season tickets. For those who want to continue buying ordinary single tickets and season tickets, this is of course still also available in the app.
A Complete Product Offering
The Bobcat back-office solutions provided for both the LYNX and the Strætó projects combined, together with FARA’s integrated applications, offer a complete package in terms of functionality requirements from Swedish PTA’s. Subsequently, the new ticketing solutions delivers the best possible ticketing experience for passengers. If you would like to learn more about Bobcat and FARA’s new development projects, please contact Nils-Gustav Persson.