Putting people front and centre is at the heart of everything FAIRTIQ does. In practical terms, this means making the FAIRTIQ app as easy to use as possible – after all, what simpler way to buy a ticket than with one swipe from right to left? It also means listening to customer feedback and fully understanding their needs, which can vary depending on the region where they use the FAIRTIQ app. In early March, our partner, the Hallesche Verkehrs-AG (HAVAG), conducted an online market research survey of FAIRTIQ users in Halle, Germany. Below are the key findings of the survey, carried out three months after the FAIRTIQ launch.
If you have ever conducted an online survey, you know how difficult it is to engage your target group. HAVAG sent an email to 3,064 FAIRTIQ users containing a link to the online survey. To their delight, 1,281 replied. This corresponds to a very good response rate of 42%, and indicates that FAIRTIQ users were keen to share their experiences with the app so far. We couldn’t wait to find out what they had to say.
“Why did you choose FAIRTIQ to purchase your tickets?”
The three most frequent reasons were:
Other popular reasons include environmental concerns (paperless tickets), no need to understand different fare zone systems, and special offers and discounts offered by the FAIRTIQ app.
“In your opinion, have you benefited from the daily price optimisation function, i.e. FAIRTIQ charges the lowest available fare for your journey?”
FAIRTIQ is currently valid in Halle’s 210 fare zone, so the range of tickets available are pretty manageable (single, short-hop and 24-hour travel passes for adults and children). So, it was not much of a surprise that as many as 40% of respondents stated that they would have bought the cheapest ticket even without the app.
Nonetheless, 43% of users overall said that they had benefited from FAIRTIQ’s price optimisation. The remainder of the group declared that they had yet to benefit from the best-price function, which is based on the number of journeys made.
Over 75% of survey participants wanted the price optimization extended to weekly and monthly travel passes..
Well over two-thirds of respondents declared that they were “very satisfied”, and nearly one third “satisfied”, with the FAIRTIQ app. Yes, your maths is spot on: a satisfaction rate of almost 100%! Only 0.2% said they were “not satisfied”. We could not believe our eyes when we saw this incredible result. Of course, we are really thrilled to receive a ringing endorsement for our work, and we are extremely grateful to both our users in Halle and our partner HAVAG. It is great to know that, at least as far as our users in Halle are concerned, FAIRTIQ is definitely on the right track!
The final insight we would like to share with you concerns the self-reported rate of local public transport use before and after the FAIRTIQ launch. A little less than one-third of survey respondents stated that their public transport use has increased since they started using the FAIRTIQ app; nearly two-thirds of them estimated that they take 1–5 more journeys, while almost 15% put the figure at 6–10. This echoes the user feedback we receive: “I travel by car alot less since I started using the FAIRTIQ app.” The fact that the HAVAG survey bears out this anecdotal evidence is great news for us, and is a promising sign of a shift towards more sustainable mobility.
The HAVAG survey results are promising and complimentary. But they also show that our work is far from done. Clearly, users in Halle would like to see the app’s area of validity extended to MDV, and we should also give some thought to developing new functions for the app. So, with that in mind, we are going to get straight down to business. Thankfully, we can rely on HAVAG, a partner who shares our commitment to providing travellers with an excellent and hassle-free public transport experience.