We intend to build a UK-first smart ticketing broker for public transport that can enable seamless travel and payments, at the best price, for 1.5 million UK bus passengers daily. Currently they put up with disjointed, inefficient and needlessly expensive bus journeys due to a lack of integration between bus companies. The Government has requested our local authority customers solve this problem through technology.

Our system will link up systems run by competing bus operators and enable local authorities/regional transport authorities (LARTAs) to manage their travel schemes in a way that also ensures passenger privacy is protected and convenience is increased.

Our disruptive innovation is the ability to link customer records and journey histories without the need to centralise the data; enable competing operators to securely process payments for each other; and aggregate existing multi-operator fare caps into a single "post-pay" ticket (i.e. being billed on a weekly basis with no need to pre-purchase a ticket before boarding).

It will also enable the creation of new, cheaper multi-operator ticketing products and travel schemes and allow passengers flexibility to use different forms of ticketing ("tapping on" to buses with bank cards, smartcards, and barcodes) including concessionary travel against a single account for the first time outside the unique conditions of Transport for London that don't exist anywhere else in the UK.

We are the ideal team to conduct this project because we have many of the foundational technologies already built, are well regarded in the ticketing industry, and have strong working relationships with 60% of UK LARTAs, plus transport operators, and ticketing solution providers. 1 in 4 passengers in the UK use a Unicard system and we already have three LARTAs (Transport Scotland, Transport for West Midlands, Milton Keynes) and two operators on board.

Our product shows extremely strong alignment with the DfT's National Bus Strategy, Clean Growth Plan, and Net Zero priorities. It will provide an easier, cheaper, and more consistent travel experience for millions of UK taxpayers who take the bus in regions outside of London plus generate significant second-order benefits to society, estimated by the DfT at £4.20 for every £1 spent.