Keolis announced the availability of its “Plan Book Ticket” solution, a “three-in-one” digital app enabling passengers to plan, book, buy, and validate their tickets using their smartphones. The solution, which has several of its functions in use on other networks in France, is now complete with the inclusion of M-Ticket, a digital tool that allows passengers to purchase and validate their tickets on a whole transport network, making public transport simple and easy to use. The first network to use the app in its complete version is TAO (bus and trams) in Orléans, France.

With the digital transformation, over 35 billion digital transport tickets are expected to be used on mobile phones by 2019. Keolis developed the “Plan Book Ticket” app enabling smarter transportation by simplifying ticket purchases and validation and management of the transport system. It enables commuters to plan their travel, buy tickets anywhere, anytime, and store them on their smartphone to be validated as needed. The benefits of the app for the network include improvements to punctuality, travel times, boarding speeds, and reductions in fare evasion rates.

Functions of the “Plan Book Ticket” solution are already in use on French transport networks. The “Plan” function is available in more than a dozen cities including Lille, Bordeaux, Montargis, Orléans, Brest, Amiens, Quimper, and Chateauroux. This solution calculates the best route by combining all transport modes from buses, trams, and metro to coaches, bikes, and walking.

The “Book” function, an online store connected to a network’s ticketing system, is already in use at Montargis, Orléans, and Saint-Malo. From now on, the app will feature M-ticket payment technology, developed by Keolis’ subsidiary Kisio Digital in partnership with Masabi, a global leader in mobile ticketing for transportation. The “Ticket” function enables passengers to stop using paper tickets and use their smartphone to validate their ticket. This app is the world’s first to use Masabi’s JustRide SDK to deliver mobile ticketing using the same technology already deployed in more than 25 cities worldwide including London, New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Athens, Greece.

Similar digital apps have been developed by Keolis locally in different part of the world through its subsidiaries in Boston, Montreal, and the Netherlands.