Arriva grows digital ticketing platform with new contract award

Arriva is growing its position as a leading digital services and smart ticketing provider following the award of a multi-year contract by CrossCountry.

The Arriva Customer Engine (ACE) was selected amongst 22 competitors through the UK Government’s Utilities Contract Regulation (UCR) framework, to provide CrossCountry with a new website and mobile app, which will deliver a more connected and seamless travel experience for its passengers through access to cheaper fares and the latest travel updates.

ACE is already used by customers across the UK, including three million passengers travelling on Chiltern Railways, Grand Central and Arriva UK Bus. By growing its customer base, ACE will gain broader insights from different categories of passengers, allowing it to develop features that will further enhance passenger experience and build the technology to appeal to other transport providers, both in the UK and Europe.

Future developments will harness the most up-to-date Artificial Intelligence and machine learning technologies and could interact with other platforms and apps to provide bolt-on options that could help passengers research and book additional services or activities.

Unlike other digital platforms that use booking fee models, ACE delivers a direct service to customers without the booking fees. With around 33 million journeys made with CrossCountry in 2024, this latest contract will grow ACE’s user base in the UK and is a significant boost for Arriva’s digital offering as part of its diversified UK Trains portfolio.

Last year 1.14 million rail tickets were bought through ACE with a combined face value of £31 million sold through the platform.  750,000 rail users have downloaded the app with other users choosing to interact with the transport provider’s websites.  The digital platform allows customers to plan journeys, purchase tickets, receive live updates, and access helpful information while travelling. 

Amanda Furlong, Interim Managing Director Arriva UK Trains, said: “We are committed to designing and delivering products that improve the passenger experience and encourage greater uptake of public transport.  ACE does exactly that.

“By making it cheaper and easier to purchase tickets, our digital platform is one of the ways we can encourage customers to make the switch from their cars - boosting sustainable transport networks and contributing to the UK’s climate goals.

“We know there is growing demand for smart ticketing services, and we’re delighted to roll out our market-leading platform to CrossCountry passengers.”

The contract award for ACE marks a further step in broadening Arriva’s diverse portfolio within the UK rail sector. Arriva is the only owning group with experience of operating under all contract types in use in Britain’s railways, including national rail contracts, a concessionary contract under Arriva Rail London and the Open Access company under the Grand Central brand. Arriva also supports the critical maintenance of rolling stock through Arriva Train Care, and provides customer focussed rail replacement services through Arriva Road Transport Solutions.

Arriva has extensive expertise in developing and delivering digital solutions that improve the passenger experience and encourage more usage of public transport.  As well as ACE in the UK, it also owns ‘glimble by Arriva’, a Mobility as a Service (MaaS) solution allowing passengers to plan, book and pay for services with multiple operators across all types of modes of transport. First introduced in the Netherlands, glimble was designed with pan-European potential. The technology is set to enable more integrated journeys and is now growing its European footprint with entry into Italy in November 2023.

About Arriva Group:

Arriva is a leading provider of passenger transport across Europe, employing around 34,400 people and delivering around 1.6 billion passenger journeys. With buses, trains, coaches, trams, waterbuses, bike-sharing systems, on-demand transport solutions and a rolling stock leasing company, Arriva proudly connects people and communities safely, reliably and sustainably across 11 countries, delivering these services in a better way, every day. The activities of Arriva are divided into four business units: UK Bus, UK Trains, The Netherlands and Mainland Europe. Arriva has passenger transport operations in the Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom, and also operates a rolling stock leasing company in Romania.