In a significant upgrade for the company, UK rail booking tool Evolvi is in the process of adding
European rail content.
The platform, which is used by some 130 travel management
companies, celebrates its 20th anniversary this week but until now
has only offered UK rail content.
That is set to change, with the company in the midst of
integrating content from “key European rail markets” and aiming to commence
user acceptance testing by the end of Q1.
“It’s the big project for this year. We’ve had a hole in our
content so this is a real milestone,” said Darren Williams, managing director,
Evolvi. “Our bread and butter will remain UK rail – we were the first doing it and
we’ve been in this market a long time – but this is a significant departure for
the business. It’s extremely exciting.”
Williams, who joined the company last August, declined to
name the six operators whose content it is testing, but indicated they include
Deutsche Bahn, SNCF and Eurostar. “Progress is going well,” he added, but did
not commit to a go-live date.
The additional content will be delivered via Evolvi’s
existing API meaning TMCs will need to do only limited development work to access the new content. “The
three things we wanted to avoid were a new API, [the need for] licensing, and
[TMCs] having to have direct contracts with operators,” said Williams.
Asked whether the addition of European rail content would
enable Evolvi to move into new markets, Williams said: “That is the vision. But
first things first, let’s get a product that works and is scalable in the UK,
then we can think further afield.”
The company changed ownership in 2023 as part of Clarity
Travel Management’s acquisition of Agiito, but Williams said the upgrade had
been funded and undertaken by Evolvi. “Clarity has been very supportive, but
they have been pretty hands off as there has to be that separation because we
serve others in the market. Thus far we’ve done all the development inhouse and
within our own budget,” he explained.
Also in the pipeline for the company this year are the
addition of seat maps and of more granular carbon emissions information at the
point of sale.
In a significant 2024 update for the company, Evolvi
introduced split-ticketing functionality that enables users to make savings by
dividing journeys into multiple fares without passengers necessarily needing to
change trains.
“That was another important upgrade and it’s been performing
really well,” said Williams. More than half of its TMC customers have
implemented the functionality for their customers, with total savings of £5.7
million recorded from July to December last year and 12 per cent of all
bookings now split.
Evolvi will mark its 20th anniversary
with a series of events including a customer celebration in May.