Corporate Responsibility
Unlocking smarter travel through the key
View the above podcast to learn more about our progress with the key
As a main UK provider of public transport, Go-Ahead is committed to operating reliable, safe and green bus and rail services. We are also embracing new technology to make it easier for passengers to travel with us by introducing our own nation wide smartcard – the key.
This distinctive product is now available on our bus services outside London and on parts of our rail operations, with more than 140,000 passengers actively using the key.
The key is reducing boarding times, cutting paper ticket waste and ensuring we can offer tickets and products that are completely in-step with passenger requirements. We have already won the prestigious National Transport Award for excellence in technology for our progress with the key.
The success of London’s smartcard ‘the Oyster’ demonstrates that passengers find using smartcards a convenient way to travel, with 98% of passenger journeys in London now being made with an Oyster card.
But it’s just the start for Go-Ahead and for our passengers using our smart ticketing; with integrated bus-rail tickets, lifestyle offers, pay as you go and self-service ticket buying through the web all on their way soon.
Key facts
- 60,000 - key transactions a day
- 140,000 - key cards being used by passengers
- 500,000 - our target for the number of key cards in use by 2013
Key progress
- Smartcard machines installed on all of our 2,000 buses outside London.
- Introduction of first interoperable commercial smartcard scheme in Oxford in partnership with Stagecoach
- Over 40% of Oxford Bus Company's bus passengers already using the key
- Pilot schemes launched on Southern and London Midland rail franchises
- Excellence in Technology Award for the key smartcard - 2011 National Transport Awards
If you would like more information about the key at our companies or would like to buy key products, please click on the relevant logo below:
Read more about Go-Ahead's progress with the key in a recent article in Transport Times: ‘The key to joined-up travel’