Building innovations that enhance passenger experience with Go-Ahead

Littlepay’s journey began in 2017 when it partnered with Ticketer to introduce a contactless open-loop fare collection on 280 of Go-Ahead’s Oxford Buses. This successful pilot laid the foundation for a nationwide rollout of our innovative solution.

Why Littlepay?

Our partnership and expansion with Littlepay is driven by our aligned focus of customer experience. We want customers to get the best fare without needing to be pre-informed and in-line with their preferred travel patterns. We’ve seen ongoing year-on-year increase in ratio for open-loop PAYG and this has also meant more efficient boarding with corresponding operational efficieny. 

Innovating with flexible capping options 

Go-Ahead has been at the forefront of innovation with Littlepay where together, we’ve pioneered projects like ‘multi-operator capping’, ‘tap and cap’, ‘tap-on, tap-off’ and flexible fares. Our multi-operator cap was first deployed by two Go-Ahead operators in Brighton. It layers a fare cap over each operators’ fare structures, giving passengers using both services automatic best value. Since then, we’ve enjoyed a collaborative relationship, listening to Go-Ahead’s ambitions and developing products and services to help them achieve their goals

Unlocking Passenger Insights 

In 2023, Go-Ahead and Littlepay partnered with Google in a global first, to revolutionise the passenger experience through Google Pay. Between us, we’ve enabled passengers to opt into a new service that delivers valuable travel insights directly to their phones, without needing to sign up for a new account. This development allows operators to provide updates regarding fare & capping status, payment issues or network change updates.

“Littlepay also share our drive towards innovation, having a supplier not just enabling but encouraging pilots with substantive value is a huge benefit to us and our customers.”

said Sean McLaughlin, Group Senior Solutions Manager at Go-Ahead Group

Results:

This partnership resulted in a significant increase in contactless transactions, reduced operational costs, gained insights to previously anonymous PAYG travellers, and improved overall passenger satisfaction. By leveraging innovative technologies like Google Transit Insights, we’ve been able to stay ahead of the curve and deliver a world-class passenger experience.

In addition, Tap On Tap Off transactions on the Go Ahead network have seen a 29% increase between November 2023 and December 2024.