Canadian Urban Transit Association Fall Conference and Expo

Bytemark will be attending Canadian Urban Transit Association Fall Conference November 23-26 in Calgary, Alberta. The theme of this year's conference, Transforming the Customer Experience, will offer great insight in how transit providers and their partners can improve systems for both riders and the cities they serve.Bytemark CEO Micah Bergdale will be speaking Monday the 25th at 11:20am. The Panel Micah is participating on is titled: "Fare Cards and Loyalty Programs.""Providing easy and comprehensive payment solutions and rewarding loyal customers have proved to be very effective at enhancing the customer experience in the retail industry and other customer-focused sectors. The transformation in the transit industry has been relatively slow but some interesting progress has been made over the last few years. Customer service is a key element of the PRESTo electronic fare system and the card is transforming the way customers use transit in the GTA, Hamilton and Ottawa regions. Key insights will be shared from customer surveys and operations, including how social media is playing a more prominent role in the customer experience. Analysts at Juniper Research in the UK looked at current trends in paying by phone and predict that mobile ticketing across all forms of transit will triple in the next five years. That growth will be led by the local public transit sector but will also include airlines and long distance rail. Bytemark will present on how mobile ticketing has already taken off in some markets, with Asia rapidly embracing the technology and with over 65 percent of bus riders in Sweden paying for their trips by phone. The Société de transport de Montréal (STM) is the fourth largest public transit organization in North America with 250 bus lines and 68 subway stations. One of STM’s business objectives is to increase ridership by 40% by 2020. Learn how the STM’s new loyalty program, Merci! differs from other loyalty programs by offering innovative options and solutions to their clients ina very personalized and targeted way."We will be exhibiting our products and services Tuesday the 26th from 8:30am-3:30pm at the Calgary Telus Convention Center. Stop by the Trans-Expo to see live demonstrations of Bytemark's mobile ticketing system.We hope to see you in Calgary!