When a transport project is designed, most of the effort and budget goes into what passengers can see and touch: stops, signage, platforms and routes. The information that helps someone use that infrastructure is often treated as a separate concern, procured later and, in many cases, funded and specified mode by mode. That split creates cost and duplication for transit authorities, and a patchier experience for passengers.

Alex Froom, chief strategy officer at real-time messaging platform Journey Alerts, says that by operating with the passenger’s needs at the forefront, authorities can avoid the complexities that arrive when communication is treated as an afterthought. Separate systems for different modes of transport add cost and duplicates effort. “A single system, configured to each authority, works better for the council and the passenger than running separate ones for each,” he says.

Froom points to the data, which indicates that an increasing number of people are opting out of apps. Media platform Business of Apps says that, globally, more than 90% of app users abandon an app within 30 days of downloading it. Many apps require location services that drain batteries, need user registration, exploit personal data or require constant access to costly bandwidth and data.

App opt-out

The app has often been the go-to method for passenger communication, designed to act as the interface between the council, the operator and the customer. Froom says this method has become outdated and rarely justifies the cost.

“Building an app is only the start of the cost,” he explains. “You’re then paying to host it, maintain it and keep it working through every operator update and device change, for as long as it’s live. For most local authorities, that ongoing bill runs well past what was budgeted for – money that would do more for passengers spent elsewhere.”

He points to the wide range of people who rely on public transport. “The needs of a person taking the underground in London to work every day are very different logistically from the needs of a retiree living outside an urban centre who wants to catch the bus into town on the weekend,” he says. “But think of what they both have in common: they need clear, up-to-date information on what’s happening with their travel and any delays or disruptions impacting their journey, and they need that information to be delivered to them in a convenient, timely fashion.”

Passenger first

Froom argues that this approach lowers the barrier to entry for people who might otherwise be excluded from public transport: an older traveller who won’t download a new app or a passenger whose anxiety makes an unfamiliar interface harder to navigate. Plain, step-by-step updates sent through a familiar platform, he says, aren’t demanding for the passenger. When better information is built into the transport infrastructure from the beginning, it opens doors for a range of people who wouldn’t be able to access public transport otherwise.

“Rather than asking passengers to navigate a complex app interface in a transport tool, you can build clear information systems into transport infrastructure from the beginning,” he explains. “By communicating with people through media they already use, such as WhatsApp, it removes a significant psychological barrier to using public transport.”

For transit authorities weighing up how to serve an entire network’s passengers, Froom argues the answer sits in the initial planning rather than the technology. “If you put the passenger’s needs at the forefront and incorporate these information systems into transport networks from the beginning, you make public transport a more viable, efficient choice for everyone,” he says.

• To book your place at the Quality Bus Conference 2026, held in partnership with the Bus Centre of Excellence, click here.

• To find out more about Journey Alerts, click here.