Bern, 25 July 2021. Yesterday, FAIRTIQ hit a momentous milestone: its innovative eTicket app recorded its 30 millionth trip. This rate of growth is even faster than what the company could have expected a year ago. Not only that but five million of these trips were made between May and July alone.
FAIRTIQ CEO Gian-Mattia Schucan is thrilled at the news, “This upward trend not only looks set to continue but is also proof positive that our flexible solution is fully in sync with public transport users’ needs, and this despite the difficult times that the public transport industry currently finds itself in. FAIRTIQ’s groundbreaking technology boasts a number of features that have been particularly beneficial during a pandemic. First, buying a ticket is a contactless and touch-free process. Second, passengers pay only for the journeys they actually take on public transport. Third, users are charged the lowest available fare for their journey. For example, if a one-day travel pass is cheaper than the price of a one-way ticket, the user will be charged the cost of the one-day pass.
As COVID-19 restrictions ease and vaccination numbers rise, demand for environmentally friendly public transport services has started to pick up again. So too have FAIRTIQ user numbers. In a little over five years, the ticketing app developed by the Swiss start-up has processed a total of 30 million trips. Five million of these were made in the last three months alone, and one million in the last 12 days.
There are a number of factors behind this exponential growth: returning customers, a general increase in public transport demand, and the ongoing expansion of FAIRTIQ’s operations. There are now 60 transport companies throughout the German-speaking world, as well as in Belgium, France and the UK, which have adopted this innovative and extremely accessible technology, and many more are set to follow their lead.
About FAIRTIQ
FAIRTIQ is an innovative Swiss start-up from Bern which aims to make travelling by public transport as easy as possible. The ticketing app developed and operated by FAIRTIQ is free and can be used across the entire public transport network in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, as well as several parts of Germany and Austria. With over 30 million trips made to date, FAIRTIQ is now the most successful iPhone- and Android-compatible check-in/check-out solution worldwide. FAIRTIQ has built up an impressive partner network of public transport providers and associations in Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein. FAIRTIQ technology also powers Easy Ride, the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) app.
How a journey with FAIRTIQ works
Before boarding the train, tram or bus, users check in to the app with a single swipe. This will generate a valid ticket for all public transport in the given region. Once the traveller has arrived at their desired destination, they can end the journey by either swiping the stop button or activating the Smart Stop feature, which will carry out the process for them. The app recognises the distance travelled based on the device’s location data and charges the customer the best possible fare for the journey. For example, if the cost of a single journey exceeds the price of a one-day pass, the customer pays the cheapest of the two fares.