National Express

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Qjump

Thanks to Fujitsu’s RJIS, National Express now has a cost effective way to sell tickets online, enabling it to compete with similar services provided by other transport operators.

The Challenge

The National Express Group plc (NEG) is a leading, international public transport group that carries over one billion passengers a year worldwide through its bus, train, tram and express coach operations.

To help create a new revenue stream and enhance its customer service NEG wanted to develop a web-based rail travel service that enabled passengers to plan their journeys and buy tickets on line.

The Solution

National Express asked Fujitsu to supply its Rail Journey Planning and Information Service (RJIS) as the core of the company's new Qjump service (www.qjump.co.uk). RJIS holds up-to-date timetable and fare information for all UK train operating companies. It also has an Electronic Routing Guide enabling it to check all the permissible routes through the rail network for any given journey.

Qjump users can search RJIS to find the best journey to their destination, based on their preferred date and time of travel, cost and availability, andbook tickets on-line using secure reservation and credit card authorisation facilities.

Richard Rowson, Retail Development Manager, Qjump, says, “Fujitsu's RJIS is the de facto source of journey planning and timetable information within the rail industry. By placing RJIS at the heart of the Qjump system, we can guarantee that our customers always have the best possible journey and fares information.”

Based on the success of the project, Qjump has now extended its use of RJIS with the launch a new travel service for business users (www.qjump.co.uk/business).

The Benefits

Thanks to Fujitsu’s RJIS, National Express now has a cost effective way to sell tickets online, enabling it to compete with similar services provided by other transport operators.
The ‘out of the box’ functionality, proven technology and open connectivity of RJIS enable National Express to:

• guarantee the most accurate travel information
• provide a simple to use, ‘one stop’ service
• bring the new service to market very quickly
• minimise in-house development and support
• maintain high levels of system availability, security and responsiveness.

The Implementation

Operating on 4,000 terminals across the UK’s National Rail network, RJIS has enabled radical improvements in the way rail journey information is collated and distributed between Train Operating Companies and passengers.

The RJIS Local Service allows Internet services, such as Qjump, to host their own dedicated RJIS service, with information being updated daily by Fujitsu, so ensuring high levels of system availability and response while also maintaining the integrity and accuracy of the core data.

“Fujitsu provided us with a reliable and proven off-the-shelf solution with extensive functionality that was easy to integrate with our front-end systems thanks to its industry standard interfaces,” comments Richard Rowson.

Fujitsu is also responsible for delivering 365 day, 24 x 7 support for the system, along with overnight updates of the timetable, fares and engineering works information.

The Expertise

NEG chose to work with Fujitsu because of its extensive experience in the transport industry, and because RJIS was already recognised by the UK rail industry as the best source of journey planning and timetable information.

Richard Rowson adds, “Fujitsu's understanding of the rail industry contributed a lot to the successful outcome of the project and its technical skills were exactly what you would expect to get from a serious systems integrator.”