Plusdial as your ticket reseller – Västtrafik service launched!

New reseller-based model for electronic single ticket sales

Public Transport Companies (PTCs) across Europe are increasingly adopting a new approach to ticketing: instead of procuring and operating ticketing systems either as a service or developing them in-house, they are opening electronic ticket sales to third parties.

With this new operating model, mobility operators, MaaS providers, event organizers, and other partners can become authorized ticket resellers by entering into an agreement with the PTC. Once onboarded, resellers gain access to the necessary technical interfaces (APIs), enabling functions such as ticket validation, sales reporting, and secure data exchange required for compliant ticket sales.

Practical example: Plusdial & Västtrafik

Plusdial has recently entered into an agreement with the Swedish public transport authority Västtrafik, integrating mobile operator billing and SMS-based ticketing with the Swedish national ‘BoB’ (standard for ticket distribution and ticket validation) back-end system.

In this solution:

1. The customer orders and pays for a single ticket via SMS
2. Payment is handled through the phone bill
3. The customer receives a link to download the actual ticket in a mobile browser
4. The ticket fully supports Västtrafik’s requirements for machine-readable validation and is validated using the same systems as used with tickets purchased Västtrafik’s own ticketing application

Crucially, the customer does not need to download an app or provide personal or payment card details. Using a smartphone with a Swedish mobile subscription is sufficient.
More details from the customer perspective are available at www.plusdial.se.

Reaching customer groups often left out

Plusdial is actively seeking discussions with other public transport authorities that support a reseller-based ticketing model and can provide the required technical interfaces.

For PTCs, this approach opens an additional sales channel that effectively reaches customer groups that are often underserved, such as:

1. Occasional and infrequent travellers purchasing single tickets, including those who won’t download an app for a single journey or who demand the absolute fastest path from “need” to “ticket.”
2. Users without access to app-based payment methods (even those without credit cards or bank accounts)
3. Customers unwilling or unable to share personal or bank/credit card data

A reseller model isn’t just a new sales channel; it’s an inclusivity tool. Plusdial helps you reach groups that are often underserved:

“Plusdial captures the customer segments that app-based solutions often leave behind.”

Read more about inclusive SMS ticketing here: https://www.plusdial.net/sms-ticketing-for-all-social-groups/

Minimal Investment for PTCs

For public transport authorities, required investments can be kept to a minimum — often limited primarily to entering into a commercial agreement.

Plusdial takes responsibility for:

1. Their own system development
2. Integration with mobile network operators
3. Integration with the PTC’s back-end systems
4. Ongoing maintenance
5. Customer service, when required

This makes the reseller model a low-risk, scalable way to expand ticket sales while improving accessibility and inclusivity. This is a low-risk, high-reward strategy to expand sales network without inflating your IT budget.