Some time ago, Polish State Railways opened up to cooperation with external companies in terms of ticket sales. For several months, we have been able to buy train tickets not only via the PKP website, but also via mobile applications for smartphones and websites of external partners.
PKP sold a million tickets on smartphones
The effect – according to PKP – turned out to be surprisingly good. As Tomasz Gontarz from the management board of PKP Intercity wrote, the commercial results exceeded all expectations of the carrier. Thanks to cooperation with currently three partners, PKP has already sold the first million tickets. The result was achieved in less than seven months.
The mPay application was the first sale of tickets for state railway trains (this happened on May 31, 2021). On June 2, a similar service was offered in the smartphone application and via the e-podróżnik.pl website. KOLEO joined the group at the end of October. This partner also allowed tickets to be sold via both desktop and app.
We have a million! The barrier of the first million tickets sold through agency sales channels has been exceeded. It is a huge success both for us and for our partners mPay, e-podroznik and KOLEO.pl. We are happy with the success and we are going for more!
– PKP Intercity wrote on Twitter.
Railways add that the popularity of buying tickets online (both via websites and mobile applications) is constantly growing. Currently, 70% of consumers buy them this way. travelers. In 2019, it was 54.3 percent. people. At the same time, sales at ticket offices and mobile terminals on the train are declining. In the first half of this year, amounted to 32.4 percent, and three years ago it was 46.2 percent.
Polish railways finally noticed the potential of smartphones?
It seems that a lot of merit in this success of mobile applications, which is provided by each of the three mentioned PKP partners. After all, for many years we have been buying bus or plane tickets not on computers, but on smartphones. In the case of PKP, until recently there was an unintuitive and not very modern IC Mobile Navigator application and a poorly functioning PKP website, which, in addition, is not well adapted to mobile devices.
Interestingly, PKP is preparing another method of purchasing train tickets for passengers. Already in October, the state carrier announced its new Pekapka application, which will replace IC Mobile Navigator. The program is to be much more modern and – in addition to buying tickets – will allow, among others, for convenient ordering meals on selected connections. As previously announced, we are to use the new application in 2022.
Source: Gazeta
Ricardo is a renowned author and journalist, known for his exceptional writing on top-news stories. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he is known for his ability to deliver breaking news and insightful analysis on the most pressing issues of the day.
