If you want to know the future of transport ticketing, make sure you visit the 378 Cubic Transportation stand at Intertraffic Amsterdam 2014 and check out NextAgent, the virtual ticketing concept that is set to revolutionise the industry.
NextAgent Video Ticket Office acts as a combination of a conventional ticket office, vending machine, and call centre. The passenger speaks and interacts, face-to-face, with a clerk throughout the ticketing process, just as they would at a traditional ticket window. The only difference is that the interaction takes place over a high-definition screen that provides a high-speed video connection. So customers can discuss their requirements with a knowledgeable agent and get the right ticket at the right price, irrespective of the time of day. Or they can talk to the NextAgent clerk with a problem, such as a broken ticket where the magstripe doesn’t work. The NextAgent can interrogate the ticket to find out what is wrong with it, and then correct it, something that no ticket vending machine today could do.
For transport operators, the enormous benefits of NextAgent are immediately obvious: a station’s ticket office staff can be freed up to assist passengers on platforms, creating safer, friendlier station environments. Operators can benefit from business models proven in other industries, including outsourcing and centralised call centres. And by outsourcing out-of-hours ticketing, operators can leverage economies of scale to provide passengers with a better ticketing experience at lower cost. Another major benefit is that operators can pool specialist skills and experience — in foreign languages, for example, or unusual ticketing requirements — and make them available to passengers at any connected station.
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NextAgent Video Ticket Office acts as a combination of a conventional ticket office, vending machine, and call centre. The passenger speaks and interacts, face-to-face, with a clerk throughout the ticketing process, just as they would at a traditional ticket window. The only difference is that the interaction takes place over a high-definition screen that provides a high-speed video connection. So customers can discuss their requirements with a knowledgeable agent and get the right ticket at the right price, irrespective of the time of day. Or they can talk to the NextAgent clerk with a problem, such as a broken ticket where the magstripe doesn’t work. The NextAgent can interrogate the ticket to find out what is wrong with it, and then correct it, something that no ticket vending machine today could do.
For transport operators, the enormous benefits of NextAgent are immediately obvious: a station’s ticket office staff can be freed up to assist passengers on platforms, creating safer, friendlier station environments. Operators can benefit from business models proven in other industries, including outsourcing and centralised call centres. And by outsourcing out-of-hours ticketing, operators can leverage economies of scale to provide passengers with a better ticketing experience at lower cost. Another major benefit is that operators can pool specialist skills and experience — in foreign languages, for example, or unusual ticketing requirements — and make them available to passengers at any connected station.
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