THEASSOCIATIONof Train Operating Companies is planning to launch a fully automated booking and ticketing system on the Internet for agents who do not use global distribution systems.
Called Ajents, the system will allow agents to access timetables, make reservations and also print rail tickets when it is launched at the end of the year.
Agents with a GDS connection presently use the Elgar system in order to sell rail tickets but it is anticipated that some of them will switch over to Ajents.
At the end of March, agents who own a PC and a dot-matrix printer will be offered software that allows them to book rail travel on a screen. In the second phase, towards the end of the year, agents will have to buy a £500 ticket printer to connect to their PC.
Agents will have to pay a software licensing fee but the amount has not been finalised.
ATOC distribution and standards manager Steve Fosh said: “The travel trade will hopefully embrace rail and sell it more proactively. It’s going to have an impact on sales but we can’t put a figure on it. Over the last few years, a lot of agents have moved away from rail because it has proved to be too difficult to book.”
ABTA transport committee chairman Doug Wardle welcomed Ajents, saying it would mean agents no longer have to look up routes and fares separately.
However, he said ABTA was still in the process of discussing cost and equipment issues with ATOC.
“ATOC is positive these issues can be addressed,” he added.
n ABTAreceived 118 applications for membership last year, a rise of 13.5% on 1998, while 10 members left the association in the same period. The total number of member branches at the end of the year was 7,575, compared with 7,381 in 1998.