Live trial of Ventrata anti-fraud gates begins on board buses

New anti-fraud gates allow ticket validation and could bring an end to a problem worth hundreds of thousands of dollars worldwide

In an attempt to bring an end to passengers boarding buses without paying, Ventrata is running a trial of new anti-fraud gates that automatically report when a ticket or voucher has not been scanned.

The padded anti-fraud gates are installed behind the driver’s seat so that a passenger must scan their ticket before they board. This means that it is not possible for phantom passengers to be allowed on the bus.

The trail, thought to be the first of its kind, will run for a number of months to assess how much money it could save operators from fraud.

Olly Morgan, CEO and founder of Ventrata, said: “We’ve had a number of clients who’ve had a lot of problems with ticket validation.

“We’ve come up with an ingenious solution around entry gates and entry management on board buses.

“This is technology normally reserved just for large-scale attractions. We have managed to shrink wrap that down into a size so that it can fit inside a bus and work in that environment — which is totally ingenious, completely awesome and only done by us.

“It’s going to change the world in a lot of ways, but primarily it’s going to reduce the amount of ticket fraud and improve the customer experience when they are validating their tickets getting on board the bus.”

The gates sound an alarm if someone attempts to push through the gate. They are connected to Ventrata’s dashboard and report each scan in real time, as well as providing live location tracking.

Ventrata provides the market-leading all-in-one sales, booking and ticketing platform for tour operators, hop-on hop-off buses, attractions, and bus operators. The company’s hardware and software solutions are fully-integrated, and allow online and on-site sales to connect directly to manifests, reporting and accounting.

The scale-up was founded in 2016, and achieved growth of more than 300 per cent in 2019. It provides platforms for some of the largest operators in the world, including City Sightseeing, Big Bus, Starline Tours and Paramount Studio Tours.

The gates have also been designed with passenger safety in mind. It is possible to push through them easily in the case of an emergency and the arms are padded to ensure no injuries can occur.

“The solution that we’re providing is an all-in-one package,” Morgan said. “We’re providing ticketing infrastructure, we’re providing entry management, we’re providing online distribution, local distribution — all in a single package — and the great benefit to our clients is that it’s an all-in-one.

“They can contract with a single company, and the system is fully integrated and works with each component.

“The bus validation device itself is a very robust solution that is built for public transport and has all of the features you would expect for such a solution.

“In the case of an emergency or fire, it’s very easy to push through the barriers setting off an alarm. It’s very disability friendly and it’s got soft padding on the barrier arms themselves — meaning it’s child-friendly and will minimise the risk of any potential harm to any passengers.”

Request a demo here, or contact Holt on sales@ventrata.com

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