Thalys and public transport: “let us dare to be ambitious and together have a European vision of the customer”

Thalys – the driving force of Europe

Thalys is celebrating its 10th birthday and covers the same territory Paris – Brussels – Cologne – Amsterdam in which the first international railway lines were created 150 years before it.
Thalys is the symbol of the interoperable European train which has managed to bring four countries closer together and erase the psychological notion of borders.
Thanks to its size and reactivity, it is at the leading edge of innovation.  This must not only be technological.  It must cover all the expectations of its customers, the 10% of the European population directly affected by Thalys.  Thalys will bring them even closer together in 2008 with a one hour saving between both Brussels and Cologne and Brussels and Amsterdam.  The development of partnerships with public carriers contributes to Thalys’ pivotal European role.

“Thalysconnect”

The Thalysconnect project launched in 2005 is based on a dual observation.  The car retains a market share of about 45%, due to the door to door facility it offers.  After 2008, there will be no further reduction in station to station journey times for several years.  The only way of improving Thalys’ attraction will therefore be to improve what we call “the last few kilometres”,  to borrow a well-known expression in express parcel delivery.
Thalysconnect already has a wide range of applications implemented with the public carriers concerned. 

Customer information on public transport

In partnership with the RATP, the route search engine between the Gare du Nord and an Ile de France address is built into the Thalys.com Website and accessible in four languages.  This facility is to be extended to other public networks connecting with Thalys stations and other languages.  On-board Internet access by WiFi link will soon allow access to this information even after the journey has begun.

On-board sale of public transport tickets

What is the point of saving a few minutes on a Paris-Brussels journey in December 2006 only to waste them again queuing for the ticket office on arrival?  Thalys sells Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam transport tickets in the bar.  The growth of this service, double that of traffic, shows that it is meeting a real need.

Including public transport in a Thalys ticket

The most accomplished achievement is the partnership formed with the organising authority of Aix-la-Chapelle (AVV) which enables the passenger to access all of that regional network’s public transport with his Thalys ticket.

Another example is the ability to use one’s Thalys ticket to get to all Brussels stations by taking a connecting Belgian train on arrival at Bruxelles-Midi station.  This type of service, totally transparent and smooth for the customer, is under discussion with other organising authorities.

The development of electronic ticketless travel (Thalys ticketless) and access control using contactless technologies (Navigo for Paris) pose new problems for achieving perfect intermodality from the point of view of the European customer.

The interoperability of tomorrow’s “computer ticketing”

Thalys’ ticketless electronic ticketing has replaced paper tickets with a smartcard which can be read by the ticket inspector’s terminal.  This system, which enables passengers to book or change their journeys without having to go to a ticket office, is extraordinarily successful.  The aim is for this medium to also carry the tickets of public transport networks connecting to Thalys.  The absence of common standards between carriers in the same area, particularly in France and more so in Europe, could make this project a Utopian dream.  However, work in progress with the Brussels STIB has got off to a very good start and, with the strong management support, is aiming to find a solution by 2007.  If the Walloon and Flemish networks connecting with Thalys adopt the same standard and if the terminals of the ticket inspectors of Belgian domestic trains are made compatible, the whole of Belgium’s public transport network (trains, Metro, trams and buses) would be accessible using a Thalys card.

Conditions for success : strong, motivated contacts

Thalys cannot negotiate or develop piecemeal solutions inside a territory.  It needs a strong organising authority with which to conclude global contracts.
Thalys customers represent a “marginal” market in terms of numbers but making a seamless connection between a public network and the Thalys European network constitutes remarkable leverage in terms of communication and modernity.  The political and economic representatives of certain regions are already giving valuable support to this approach.
Similarly, Thalys requires the personal involvement of transport company managers to stimulate the project teams in respect of subjects which can seem a long way from their core business.

A step by step approach

It is very tempting to wait for European standards, feasibility over all four countries or a new generation of technology to emerge.  Thalys preferred to lead from the front thanks to its motivated contacts.  This enables it to acquire a learning curve, be supported by customers and rely on successful examples which simply have to be rolled out.

Thalysconnect : a realistic ambition

Initial achievements, customer reception, show that far from being a Utopia, the idea of integrated door to door transport between large European towns or regions is accessible.  Thalysconnect must serve as an example at a time when other high-speed cross-border rail links are about to be put into service in Europe.