Success Story of Transports Publics Genevois (TPG)
«Our customers expect mobile, digital solutions from us and are very satisfied with mobile ticketing via SMS.»
Eric Forestier,
Sales, Marketing & Customer Services Director, Transports Publics Genevois (TPG)
20% of public transport tickets purchased via SMS.
Geneva Public Transport TPG has made it considerably easier to purchase tickets: its customers receive their tickets within seconds via SMS.
The challenge: developing the ticket of the future.
You only have a few moments to buy a tram or bus ticket from the machine and then you discover you don’t have any change. This is a familiar situation for occasional customers of Transports Publics Genevois (TPG) who do not have a travel card. TPG also wanted to offer these customers an innovative way to purchase tickets that is simple to use. The needs of these customers were already known: the ticket machines of the future needed to be mobile and digital, i.e. available on any mobile phone 24 hours a day.
The solution: text 788 – it couldn’t be simpler.
Send a text to 788, enter the code tpg1 for standard rate tickets or tpg2 for reduced rate tickets – and you will immediately receive a valid ticket straight to your mobile phone. This allows you to travel anywhere throughout the TPG Geneva urban network for one hour. The cost of the ticket is then added to your mobile phone bill. And customers do not even need to download an app or register anywhere to be able to use this extremely easy way of purchasing tickets. Nor do they need a smartphone, as the SMS service works perfectly with any mobile phone, including those with pre-paid credit. This groundbreaking mobile ticketing solution was developed and introduced in less than a year. To achieve this, TPG collaborated with Swisscom and the mobile services specialist MNC. Swisscom customers can now purchase mobile tickets using the reliable 24/7 Swisscom SMS/MMS Business Number Service.
The result: resounding success on the market.
As Eric Forestier, Sales, Marketing & Customer Services Director at TPG, is pleased to explain, “the SMS Ticket is practical and easy to use, which is just what our customers want.” “We’re really living up to our customers’ expectations. We know this because, three or four months after launch, sales via SMS went up by 10, 12, then 15%. Now that figure is at 20%, and rising. The development of the new service is largely due to a professional team. The implementation ran like clockwork – everyone involved worked efficiently. Our partners Swisscom and NMC have made it possible for us to deliver the solution to our customers quickly. And now it’s up and running, and is working well!»
