Qrious helps Auckland Transport improve accessibility for AT HOP users

AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND: Auckland Transport’s goal is to make public transport accessible, easy, and affordable – for everyone. When they identified the need for a programme especially for visually impaired customers, they turned to their trusted partner Qrious to help bring the project to life.

While the AT HOP card has made Auckland travel simpler and more affordable, visually impaired customers were finding it hard to read the digital balance displays on buses and trains. Logging onto and using the AT HOP online portal could also be difficult because the content was not optimised for screen-readers.

Visually impaired users were left unsure of how much money was on their card, or if they’d tagged on or off correctly. This could lead to mis-tags or being caught out with low AT HOP balances.

Auckland Transport, already users of the Qrious UbiQuity marketing automation platform, asked Qrious to develop an automated programme that would help accessible customers easily stay on top of their AT HOP balances and journeys.

Qrious CEO Nathalie Morris, says that her team worked closely with AT HOP to create a centralised and secure database to send user and travel information to the UbiQuity platform. The teams then developed accessible email and TXT templates using clear, scripted language that would make sense when read out loud by a screen reader.

“Visually impaired AT HOP customers need to access accurate and relevant information about their accounts, so we created an automated text and email series to ensure that these customers get the information they need in a way that works for them.”

“Customers can choose how and when they receive these AT HOP updates, and know that, thanks to the logic built into the communications templates, each message they receive is unique and fully personalised to their account,” she says.

Kash Chitnis, AT HOP Campaign Manager, says the new system is already up and running and that feedback from customers so far has been fantastic.

“This project was a huge challenge for us, not just in terms of working through the data, but also ensuring the email templates and language use was right. The team at Qrious were great at working through these challenges with us, asking the right questions to get the right results. And the customers are just thrilled with it.”

To learn more about how Auckland Transport and Qrious are working to improve the public transport experience for visually impaired customers, read the case study online atwww.qrious.co.nz/resources/athop-casestudy

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