Innovation Forum 2021 update

Passenger’s business, team and product lines are growing and evolving, but they always maintain a focus on their mission – to make shared public transport the first choice. A crucial part of that is learning and teaching, both of which are Passenger company values. For Passenger, open conversations and learning opportunities are key to nurturing the strong customer relationships needed as the industry faces another complex post-covid transitional stage.

In 2020, Covid and travel restrictions meant Passenger had to put part of its customer engagement plan – six-monthly Innovation Days – on hold. As habits changed in workplaces across the UK, Passenger took time to ensure they could adapt effectively to this approach at the same time as supporting staff during the pandemic, balancing team wellbeing and having enough resources to consistently deliver valuable content.

In introducing more bespoke events, more frequently and focused on the individual parts of operators’ businesses, there would be greater value and flexibility.

In May of 2021, Passenger took its Innovation Day format online and adapted it to fit snugly into a busy working day – introducing the Innovation Forum. As virtual events, they bring together the operator staff working in each area, facilitating in-depth discussion around distinct areas of the Premium product from a marketing, commercial or data perspective.

Just two months later, the Innovation Forums have proved to be a great way to introduce new Passenger team members to customers and give them some insight into how our business is growing to support them in their goals. They also are an opportunity for operators to share both the ‘stage’ and their experiences. In the recent June 2021 Commercial and Retail Forum, a representative from Blackpool Transport Services presented a case study on how the introduction of QR codes has given them invaluable insight on passenger use to help inform service and other changes.

Greg Hepworth, Head of Product at Passenger says “As we all look to #BusBackBetter, the new format of our Innovation Forum allows us to work even closer with operators, drilling down to the needs, learnings and successes of their individual departments.

This is helping our growing team and new team members to understand what our customers want/need from us first, and encourages operators to feel even more a part of the Passenger team as we all work towards our common goal.”

Innovation Forum events are giving Passenger ever-greater contact with the wider customer teams and involving more of the team at Passenger. Topics discussed have sparked new conversations and interactions that are creating new opportunities and forging even stronger partnerships.