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Industries

Software for tourism and passenger transport

Online ticketing, point-of-sale apps for the docks, passenger and staff apps, audio guides and live tracking for boat operators, ferries, tourist buses and cycle tourism.

Projects in the industry
Boats, ferries, event buses, cycle tourism
Languages
Up to 5 per project
Also works
Offline, on the docks and at sea
In use since
2023

Why is software for ferries and boat tours different?

Selling a ticket for a boat or a ferry sounds simple, until you add different lines and stops, seasonal timetables, daily capacity, stops closed for bad weather, international passengers and a share of sales coming through resellers and online platforms. Then there's the dock: queues right before departure, patchy coverage and a ticket that has to end up printed in the passenger's hand.

We've built software for this industry for several operators, so these rules are already part of how we design, not something to discover halfway through the project.

What we build for tourism and transport

  • Online ticketing with payments, PDF tickets with barcode or QR, cancellations and refunds, emails and SMS in the customer's language
  • Office back-offices: lines, stops, fares, timetable templates that generate the daily trips, closures by date, capacity and passenger manifests
  • Point-of-sale apps on the docks on phones or tablets with a Bluetooth thermal printer, that work offline too
  • Boarding validation by scanning QR codes
  • Passenger apps: timetables, tickets, notifications for delays and cancellations, live vehicle location
  • Geolocated audio guides that start on their own when the vehicle enters an area, in several languages and available offline
  • On-board staff apps: passengers expected at each stop, who's on board and who's missing, messages to passengers
  • Cycle tourism apps with 2D and 3D maps, elevation profiles and audio points of interest

Some projects in the industry

For a tourist boat operator we built the online ticketing platform: direct sales in 4 languages, resellers through GetYourGuide and day-to-day operations on one platform the office team runs on its own.

For a ferry operator we built a whole ecosystem - online shop, back-office, a passenger app with a GPS audio guide in 5 languages and staff apps - and the point-of-sale app for the docks with thermal printing, which keeps selling without coverage.

For organised bus trips to concerts and events, a passenger and crew app with live bus tracking and QR boarding, in use since 2023. And for a cycle tourism business, a routes app with a 3D flyover and audio stories along the way.

How we work with operators

It starts with a free 30-minute call, ideally off-season: that's when there's time to design and test before the peaks. We scope a first fixed-price milestone on the problem that weighs most, put it in production and grow it season after season. You always talk directly to the senior engineers building the software.

Services

What we build for this industry

Custom app and web app development

From first version to launch - iOS and Android apps, web apps and back-offices with user accounts, payments, dashboards and your data behind them.

Frequently asked questions

Do you also handle sales from resellers and online platforms?

Yes. For a boat operator we integrated GetYourGuide through its API - availability, bookings, purchases and cancellations - into the same platform as direct sales. The same approach works for agencies, tour operators and other channels with an API.

What happens when there's no coverage on the docks or at sea?

The apps we build for this industry take it for granted. The dock point of sale stores every sale locally and syncs as soon as the network is back; the audio guide downloads tracks in advance and keeps working at sea; the bus app downloads the route for offline use.

Can we update timetables, fares and closures without a developer?

It's one of the requirements we start from. Lines, stops, fares, seasonal timetables, weather closures and audio guide content are managed from the back-office, and the apps update without going through the app stores.

Do you work with small or seasonal operators too?

Yes. We work in fixed-price milestones, so you can start with the core problem - online sales, for example - and add a point of sale, staff apps or an audio guide in the following seasons.

Are the apps multilingual?

Yes, tourism passengers are international. Our projects handle 4 to 5 languages, with emails, SMS and content translated into the customer's language.

Let's ship something worth shipping.

Answer a 2-minute questionnaire, then we set up a 30-minute call: we talk through your project, scope a first milestone and tell you honestly if we're the right team.

Book a call →