Venloop victory: Arriva & TapConnect unlock free rides for runners

The Arrow Venloop is renowned for its unforgettable atmosphere. It is a unique event with a large and dedicated audience. In addition to the enthusiasm of the audience, many volunteers also commit themselves to creating a fantastic atmosphere during the Arrow Venloop and the Neptunus Walk, aiming to give all visitors, and especially all participants, a warm welcome along the course.

Last year, Arriva partnered with the Venloop organization to provide participants a discounted train ticket for bus or tram. German participants even received a free train ticket with the registration ticket. This partnership between Arriva and the Venloop organization showcases a collaborative effort towards sustainability, traffic reduction and customer service.

                                                          This year, Arriva increased their contribution, offering runners complimentary public transport throughout the event. Each runner's bib number now features a unique barcode, enabling seamless access to check in and out of public transport services during the event.

Arriva brought this creative idea to life by using TapConnect, a barcode ticket system popular in the Netherlands and Germany. They set up a special travel option for the event and made personalized barcodes for all runners. This is where TapConnect shines: Easy to use for both transport operators, event organizers and travelers, giving freedom and control over access to public transport. 

Arriva is not new to TapConnect and uses the system to produce tickets giving access to events in combination with public transport such as the Keukenhof, the Station to Station run, and return ferry tickets for tourists doing mudflat walks (the "Wadden loop").

To make this all possible, TapConnect is much more than just a barcode. Great care has been put into finding the delicate balance between ease of use and safety for both the transport operator and the traveler, whether they are online or offline.

TapConnect offers services that are always ready to use, creating a reliable record of ticket events, both in real-time and for any that were missed, like when a bus goes through a tunnel and loses network connection.

Every time a barcode is scanned, its events are reviewed to check the ticket's validity, including detailed checks for fraud and prevention. If a traveler has any questions or issues with their barcode, the transport service's help desk can easily assist by using a straightforward page that displays all the barcode's events.

TapConnect seamlessly creates and handles over 3 million tickets annually, maintaining its high performance and reliability in both operational and reporting tasks, showcasing its exceptional scalability and dependability. To the operational and financial employees of the transport operator TapConnect provides a complete and configurable reporting tool allowing nearly unlimited ways to analyze, combine, count and search tickets and all their events.

Translink and the TapConnect team is very proud to see their barcodes on the Venloop bib numbers and we wish everybody at the Venloop a safe, healthy, sunny and fun event.