East Midlands Trains (EMT) is testing new communications technology that notifies passengers of disruption to their journeys with personalised direct messages through Facebook Messenger, a world first for the rail industry.
Passengers can opt in to receive personalised disruption information via Facebook Messenger through a ‘Keep Me Updated’ button on the EMT website for any EMT service, including regular commutes. The messages are tailored to individual passengers and individual journey legs rather than entire rail lines or journeys and cover any delays greater than 10% of the total journey time.
Designed by transport tech specialists Zipabout, the communications technology is the first globally to use Facebook Messenger for ongoing personalised disruption messaging in the transport network and looks to eradicate the need for confusing mass disruption broadcasts.
Currently live as a pilot on the EMT website, the technology will be rolled out on the National Rail Enquiries and Scotrail websites in the autumn.
Although not yet available in these trials, the technology can also identify live issues anywhere on a multimodal journey, such as congestion on roads or flight delays, and notify the passenger directly for a seamless door-to-door journey. It is hoped that operators across any transport mode will be able to reduce the effects of disruption before it even takes hold by cross-modal coordination and re-routing of passengers on delayed or cancelled services mid-journey.
Emma Davis, Customer Experience Strategy Manager from East Midlands Trains said: “Providing useful information at the time of disruption is critical and Zipabout have come up with an excellent and innovative way to make this happen. I have no doubt that this will be invaluable going forward.”
Alex Froom from Zipabout said: “Passengers now demand sophisticated, accurate information on the go, and don’t want to have to scroll endlessly through Twitter to find out about delays to journeys that may not be entirely relevant to them. With this new technology, East Midlands will be able to get the right information directly into the hands of the right people at the right time for the first time.”
