Rail passenger numbers rise across the globe

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Avatar of Linda Hohnholz
Written by Linda Hohnholz

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – Travel and purchasing patterns of rail users globally are extremely dynamic in nature.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA – Travel and purchasing patterns of rail users globally are extremely dynamic in nature. Even though rail systems in the same geography are subject to similar environments, they tend to show hugely different ridership patterns as several social, economic, political and technological factors determine patronage.

A new database from Frost & Sullivan, Strategic Dashboard of Global Rail Passenger Volumes, provides passenger volume metrics for 538 rail operators in 2013. Key figures such as passenger volumes, total passenger movement in passenger kilometer, revenues from rail tickets, and the minimum, maximum and average ticket price have been included in the database. In addition, detailed parametric modeling has been utilized to estimate the sales channel split based on social and economic factors as well as rail performance indicators.

“Mobile ticketing is rail transport’s newest offering, which is quickly gaining presence and boosting passenger volumes,” said Frost & Sullivan Automotive & Transportation Research AnalystShyam Raman. “With the growth of application stores and the use of personal computing devices such as tablets and smartphones, rail operators across the globe have been pushed to increase their mobile presence.”

However, mobile ticketing has not quite taken off with some customers, who prefer to use familiar ticket procurement methods even if they are less convenient or involve more effort. This, along with server crashes and the lack of Internet access is dampening the adoption of mobile ticketing.

“Rail operators will have to strategize to deal with resistant customers in order to popularize mobile ticketing,” advised Raman. “They must also address server-related issues to support this endeavor.”

About the author

Avatar of Linda Hohnholz

Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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