Can messaging via WhatsApp offer a more viable and economical solution to journey information? RAY WARD

Jonathan Welch speaks to the people behind Journey Alerts who believe their technology offers a viable and cheap alternative with benefits for operators, local authorities and, importantly, passengers

Apps. They’re everywhere now, aren’t they? Whether you’re buying a drink at your local Wetherspoons, buying a train or coach ticket, ordering your groceries, or any number of other activities, you’re likely to be encouraged to download an app. Now, I’m no technophobe, but at the same time, I’ve never really understood the benefit to me. Obviously, there’s a benefit to the app provider in that they’re able to tie users into their system, platform or product, but what do I gain, especially now so many websites are equally mobile-friendly, making the case for a bespoke app even weaker.

I’ll admit from the start that I’m no technology expert, but it seems like an expensive business, developing an app, and when I looked into it, suggested figures ranged from around £10,000 for a basic, minimum functionality app to over a quarter of a million for the all-singing, all-dancing versions. In an industry where costs are already high, budgets are limited and spend has to be justified, those are large sums of money that might usefully be spent elsewhere.

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