This latest news in from Red Funnel. Ed
Red Funnel’s new self-service ticket kiosks have now been commissioned at Cowes, East Cowes and Terminal 2 in Southampton following extensive trials.
The new technology has enabled Red Funnel to be part of the new Solent Go Smart Travelcard scheme which allows commuters and travellers in South Hampshire to purchase an easy to use single smartcard for hop-on and hop-off access to buses and passenger ferries in the region. The Solent Go card is an ITSO compliant multi-modal, multi-operator Travelcard which makes paper tickets a thing of the past.
Top-up facilities
The new ticket kiosks offer a top-up facility for holders of Solent Go Travelcards. Customers wishing to join Solent Go can do so at www.solentgo.co.uk Red Funnel and Southern Vectis are also considering a joint ITSO smart ticket which will be launched at a later date.
The new easy to use kiosks accept payment by cash or card and also offer a wide range of Red Funnel passenger tickets applicable to their location. Customers can also purchase the cheapest through-rail tickets via Southampton to any station on the UK rail network including Travelcards. They also offer Railcard and Groupsave discounts and facilitate pre-paid ticket collection for rail tickets purchased online from websites such as thetrainline.com
The £500k investment in new technology is being financed by Red Funnel and the Solent Transport LSTF project.
Pre-paid rail ticket collection expected to prove very popular
The new technology will sit alongside Red Funnel’s manned ticket desks and terminal staff will be available to help customers get accustomed to using them.
Jonathan Green, marketing and communications director commented,
“We are pleased to be introducing new technology to help reduce ticket office queues at peak times and provide new types of smart tickets for regular travellers.
“Rail customers will also find it much easier to purchase through-tickets from East and West Cowes and we expect pre-paid rail ticket collection to prove very popular.”
Tom King, spokesperson for Solent Go said
“I’m delighted that Red Funnel Ferries have joined the Solent Go community. Our customers can now benefit from using their Solent Go Travelcards with another local transport provider, making travel by public transport in South Hampshire easier than ever before.”
More information about the new self-serve ticket kiosks and Solent Go can be found at www.redfunnel.co.uk/selfserve
