The passengers get the printouts of tickets they had previously reserved through IDOMATIK's to avoid waiting on a ticket queue and complete the process in mere minutes.

Istanbul Fast Ferries Co, which carries a record number of passengers and vehicles every year, is going through a hectic period with the start of the summer season. In Istanbul, a city of 10 million people, residents use every opportunity to enjoy the sunshine at nearby beaches. The most inexpensive and straightforward way to go to these beaches from Istanbul is to take a trip with IDO.

Istanbul public shows immense interest on the weekends, densely populating IDO piers. In its busiest period, where about 50 thousand tickets are sold every day, IDO organizes about 450 rounds to the summer resort areas surrounding the Sea of Marmara. The "self-service ticketing kiosks" produced by Kiosk Innova worked incessantly during this period. The passengers get the printouts of tickets they had previously reserved through IDOMATIK's to avoid waiting on a ticket queue and complete the process in mere minutes.

IDO carried 100 million passengers and 6.7 vehicles in 2008. 40 percent of the ticketing process in 2008 was performed over the internet and the call center. 99 percent of these passengers who preferred to buy their tickets electronically chose to use the kiosks to get their tickets printed. Thus, in this busy period, the Kiosk Innova Kiosks successfully printed up to 15.000 printouts daily.

With this new practice that became the solution for long queues in the piers and increased customer satisfaction, IDO achieved phenomenal success.

At the IDO service line, spread around the Marmara Sea, Kiosk Innova support personnel regularly performs periodic maintenance and take proactive measures against potential technical failures so that passengers enjoy a trouble-free process. Moreover, the technical and functional conditions of IDOMATIK's can be monitored instantly through the observation center located at the General Center of IDO in Istanbul, and the center can remotely interfere when necessary.

15.000 tickets a day

Currently, Kiosk Innova Kiosks are on duty at a total of 87 IDO piers. These kiosks, designed and produced by Kiosk Innova, one of the leading kiosk manufacturers in the European kiosk market, provide a significant increase in the efficiency of the IDO piers. While the ticket printing takes about 1.5 minutes during the ticketing process through the ticket window, the same process is completed in only a few seconds over the kiosks. While a ticketing officer working at the ticket window can sell 500 tickets per day, each kiosk can print out 15.000 tickets on the busiest days.

Printing ticket in a few seconds

IDO is obliged to physically print the tickets that are sold through the web or the call center. IDO, which had opened ticket sales stations in the beginning, started to consider a solution to reduce the long queues leading to initiation of a tender in the year 2005 for the self-service ticket printing stations. Kiosk Innova won the tender and produced and delivered 15 kiosks in the first phase. While the period it took a staff member to print a ticket was around 1.5 minutes, with the IDOMATIK's, produced by Kiosk Innova, this period was reduced to a few seconds.

By 2009, some of the IDOMATIK's used by IDO were indoors serving passengers who will take a trip with hydrofoils. But most of the kiosks are located outdoor. Outdoor kiosks are installed at the entrance of the port parking areas so that the passengers can get their tickets without getting out of their cars. The kiosks have operated without any problems for more than three years for four seasons under temperatures that vary from -15 to +45 and heavy weather conditions such as snow, rain, or storm. Outdoor kiosks are made of polyester bodies and designed as water-resistant and dust-proof. At the same time, the inner temperature is continuously monitored by a microprocessor, ensuring the stability of the internal temperature. Furthermore, whenever there is a technical or software problem, the watchdog timer feature allows kiosks to be turned off and on. Thus, they can operate without any issues for long periods.