On 19 April 2021, the Shift2MaaS project kicked off its pilot in Central-East Corridor, testing the Shift2Rail Travel Companion app with real passengers. Over two weeks, participants will test the app in Brno (Czech Republic) and Frankfurt (Germany). The pilot is the last in a series of Shift2MaaS pilots taking place across Europe testing the Travel Companion app.
During the pilot, participants use the Travel Companion app during their journey, testing functionalities such as the journey planner, offer building (showing the price for a trip), ticketing, and ticketing validation.
The pilot started with an online event for users where participants tested cross-border travel between Brno (Czech Republic) and Austria and Slovakia, and in Frankfurt (Germany).
All the participants received prior instructions to conduct the pilot, guided by Shift2MaaS partner OLTIS and considering current COVID-19 restrictions. Altogether, 23 passengers in Brno and 20 testers in Frankfurt are involved.
The pilot in Central-Easter Corridor is different than the pilot held in March in Portugal and Spain: apart from the fact that this pilot includes cross-border travel, the Shift2MaaS team also had to take into account the different currency used in Czech Republic (other than Euro).
The pilots will continue outdoor testing in both Czech Republic and Germany until April 30. After completing the pilots, the data (evaluation of the app) gathered from the participants will be analysed and results will be provided to Shift2Rail IP4 members to further improve the application.