Skip to main content

Arriva UK partners with HaCon on mobile travel app

Arriva UK Bus has partnered with German transportation software solutions HaCon to launch its mobile travel companion based on HaCon’s journey planner software HAFAS. The new mobile app for iPhones and Android-powered smartphones will provide customers with much greater functionality than before, while the HAFAS vehicle management system Smart VMS will provide the basis for comprehensive up to the minute passenger information.
October 22, 2013 Read time: 2 mins
476 Arriva UK Bus has partnered with German transportation software solutions 5550 HaCon to launch its mobile travel companion based on HaCon’s journey planner software HAFAS.

The new mobile app for iPhones and Android-powered smartphones will provide customers with much greater functionality than before, while the HAFAS vehicle management system Smart VMS will provide the basis for comprehensive up to the minute passenger information.

HAFAS Smart VMS gathers GPS-based real-time data in the buses which can be fed to several channels for passenger information systems, such as the new Arriva Bus app, providing passengers with real time system status information. HaCon claims its software is a cost-efficient, web-based alternative to full-range vehicle management systems, which was recently rewarded by the Association of German Transport Companies for its innovative power.

Mike Woodhouse, marketing manager for Arriva UK Bus, said: “HaCon has been working with Arriva’s parent company Deutsche Bahn in Germany for years and this has allowed us to see the benefits of the system in a real world environment. With HaCon’s experience in delivering success within the industry, we know that our new Mobile Travel Companion will be a hit with customers.”

Stephan Sünderkamp, head of Division HAFAS Internet at HaCon, said: “We are excited to equip more than 4,000 vehicles of the Arriva UK Bus fleet with HAFAS Smart VMS, which will support their new journey planner app for iPhones launched today.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Smartphone - the next technology for charging and tolling?
    January 25, 2012
    With all the debates over the most suitable future technology or technologies for charging and tolling, is it not time for the industry to look at what the rest of ITS is doing and bring a rank outsider - the smart phone - closer into the fold? By Jack Opiola, D'Artagnan Consulting LLC
  • Data exploits parking potential
    March 11, 2015
    David Crawford parallel parks with innovations in two continents. Surveys of US cities indicate that drivers searching for parking can account for up to 37% of all urban traffic congestion. A 2011 study by IBM of 20 cities around the world found that nearly six out of ten drivers had abandoned their search for a parking space at least once; while motorists generally spent on average 20 minutes looking for a sought-after spot.
  • Launch of first US smartphone commuter rail ticketing system
    November 13, 2012
    Customers in Massachusetts Bay on the US east coast can now purchase and then display rail tickets and passes using the MBTA mTicket app for iPhone and Android. Blackberry devices will also be supported soon. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and Masabi US, the transit mobile ticketing provider, jointly announced the launch of the US’ first full smartphone commuter rail ticketing system. The tickets are displayed on the phone’s screen as an encrypted barcode and as a human readable ticket.
  • Real time road hazard awareness system launched
    May 9, 2013
    inthinc Technology Solutions, US-based telematics, fleet management and driver safety solutions provider has incorporated its road hazard awareness (RHA) into its waySmart fleet management solution, enabling managers and drivers to collectively communicate and warn each other of impending dangers on the roadways in real-time. Capable of integration into any corporate journey management system, inthinc RHA functions as an add-on feature of waySmart, a comprehensive telematics-based mobile resource management