As part of its mission to help regional authorities and public transport operators improve both passenger services and administrative efficiencies by harnessing smart ticketing, TransMach has helped to implement WestLink, a new demand responsive service in the West of England area, in partnership with the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority.
The West of England Mayoral Combined Authority was able to appoint TransMach due to the ticketing specialist’s inclusion on the new National Mobilities Procurement Hub (NMPH), developed by SAM (Smart Applications Management). The new UK-wide membership resource enables national and local government, combined authorities, public sector bodies and transport operators to have direct access to a full range of ITSO and wider transport mobility services, without having to complete individual, costly and time-consuming procurement applications.
Delivering high quality bus services is a key part of achieving the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority’s vision to reduce road traffic congestion and improve local air quality and population well-being in the transition to transport decarbonisation. The regional authority’s Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) has set out targets to reduce bus journey times, ensure services run on time, return to pre-pandemic patronage by 2025, increase passenger satisfaction and aim for all buses to be zero-emission by 2030.
With a specific focus on facilitating the WestLink service around the West of England, involving the roll-out of its TM920 handheld ETMs on 34 buses, TransMach deployed the project with ITSO and cEMV payment options within a delivery period of five weeks.
Speaking about the project with TransMach, Edward Hopkins, Transport Operations Manager at the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority, said: “Our authority is focused on changing how people travel around our region, with more journeys by public transport, so it’s our goal to make services more reliable, affordable, enjoyable and safe. WestLink will provide a much-needed new transport option to help people get out and about to their destinations. Working with specialist partners such as TransMach was a major part of the successful roll out of WestLink and our ambition to provide sustainable, long-term improvements to public transportation across the West of England.”
Chairman of Smart Applications Management Andrew Seedhouse added: “The West of England Mayoral Combined Authority was able to appoint TransMach due to its inclusion on the National Procurement Mobility Hub, a specialist transport technology framework developed for all UK Local Authorities to use, developed by Smart Applications Management. As a Framework Supplier, Transmach was appointed via a direct tender award, making the delivery to the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority seamless and quick.”
Commenting on its partnership with the West of England Mayoral Combined Authority, TransMach director Minesh Vandra said: “Our mission is to help authorities and transport operators to make significant efficiencies in cost and time, by harnessing the benefits of contactless ticketing technology, backed up by a dedicated support function and cloud-based data management. Developed in-house, TransMach takes a bespoke approach to every project, to ensure that customers can identify areas where improvements can be made. Being able to deliver a seamless ticket validation solution across the West of England area in a short time-frame was an exciting project and we share the vision to make public transport more seamless.”